The Ascension of a King
by Masseffect-TxS
Summary: After a rather harsh rejection from Weiss Schnee, Jaune realizes that he needed to stop chasing her and become stronger. With the help of his team and that of Ruby, Yang and Blake. He will strive to become the hero he dreams to be. All the while hiding a secret that would rock the world of RWBY.
1. Chapter I: The Harsh Cold Rejection

RWBY: The Ascension of a King

After a rather harsh rejection from Weiss Schnee, Jaune realises that he needed to stop chasing her and become stronger. With the help of his team and that of Ruby, Yang, and Blake, He will strive to become the hero he dreams to be. All the while hiding a secret that would rock the world of RWBY.

* * *

Chapter I: The Harsh Cold Rejection

* * *

Jaune Arc happily hummed to himself walking the hall of Beacon Academy towards team RWBY's dorm room with a bouquet of blue roses in one hand and skip in his step as he held his head high. Why was this young man so happy this day?

Well you see my friends he was on his way to ask out the resident ice queen of Beacon, Weiss Schnee on a date.

This was the tenth time in the past week that the boy had attempted to ask out the heiress, even though he had bee shut down nine times before, but due to the fact that he had a huge crush on the girl, he was not going to give up so easily.

Admirable...but foolish...

Interestingly unlike other boy's who asked her out, he did not fancy her for the wealth she possessed but rather had fallen in love with her beauty and her singing voice. He wanted to ask her out on a date in the hopes to better-become friends and maybe a step further into a true relationship.

But every time he asked her out he was rejected and left feeling miserable and alone. Which of course it didn't help that Yang would find a mild humour in his misery and used the nickname 'Ladykiller' as a small insult, not that she was mean or anything, she just found it amusing.

But despite the fact Weiss had rejected him for the ninth time in a row, Jaune believed that if he asked her enough she might just give him a chance.

Not a very sound logic mind you, but hey love hurts right?

After all, his father always told him that an Arc never gives up, so that's what he was going to do, not give up until she was his. So living up to his family's mantra, he walked his way towards the dorm ready to ask her out for the tenth time this week.

Luckily he had chosen to speak to her when her teammates were not around, so as to avoid any ridicule from Yang. The rest of her team had gone out to Vale today with his team to do some shopping and buy more ammunition, while Weiss opted stayed behind to catch up on some study.

He soon stood nervously in front of the door to team RWBY as he breathed in and knocked on the door and waited for the door to open, readying the cheesy one-liner he would say to her. The door soon opened to reveal the girl's infamous snow-white hair and ice cold blue eyes as they were soon set upon his grin. Weiss instantly had a look of annoyance on her face as she saw the blond knight.

"What is it now Arc?" she asked with clear annoyance in her voice clearly already knowing the intention that the boy had if the roses in his hand were anything to go on and the fact the for the past week she was constantly asked for a date with the boy, never relenting when she ignored him and brushed him to the side.

But after an entire week of his constant advances the ice queen which was starting to lose her nerves and had enough of it. Most of her teenage life had to deal with many young men asking her out because of her wealthy position and the opportunity to say they dated a Schnee heiress. So of course, automatically she expected that the boy before her was no exception.

Today, however, she would have no more of it and set the record straight with the resident knight once and for all.

"Hey Snow Angel, I got you these blue roses. My dad always said to give pretty flowers to a pretty girl before he asks her out," he said as he handed her the flowers. "I hope you like them?" he said with a somewhat nervous smile.

Only for the girl not to take them as she just glared at the boy in front of her.

But undeterred by this fact, he continued on as he smiled at the young heiress. "Ok Never mind about the flowers...So anyway Weiss, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to a movie with me this weekend? You know hang out together with just the two of us? What do you say?" he asked with a hopeful look on his face.

It was at this point where most would say was the beginning of something that would rock the foundations of Remnant.

"Jaune, how many times have you asked me out this week?" she asked with a slight cold edge in her voice. He felt a cold chill run down his spine but slowly answered the girl.

"A-about ten times now I reckon?" he said meekly as the girl glared at him.

"And how many of those requests have I accepted?" she said again as her voice grew even colder. Jaune had to swallow the slight nervousness in his throat as her ice blue eyes glared into his soul.

"U-um...none of them?" he once again replied meekly as the girl nodded her head.

"So answer me this Arc, if I didn't accept your stupid request the first time...What would make you possibly think I would accept it this time!" she spat out the last part out with venom laced in her words, as Jaune stumbled back in surprise.

"When are you going to get the hint that I don't like you! I've never liked you in any way! I mean seriously! There's persistence and then there is just downright creepy! Your contestant advances are so irritating! That if I had a choice between being on a deserted island and going on a date with you, I would take the deserted island just to get away from you!"

Jaune backed off slightly as his heart beat faster and harder in his chest. Her harsh words cutting deeply into him with each insult she threw his way.

"And why would someone of my stature ever want to date someone like you? You're such a sorry excuse for a hunter that the fact you haven't impaled yourself on your own sword still surprises me to this day?"

Small tears began to build in the corners of his eyes as the girl continued to berate him. Every word she spoke felt as if her own blade stabbed him, each one causing his heart to ache and quicken in pain.

"Not to mention the fact that a bumbling excuse of a hunter like you was made a leader of his own team rather than your own partner, who let's face it, is ten times the hunter you will ever be! It makes me wonder if the headmaster took pity on you or made a serious mistake!? In my opinion, this school and your team would be better off without you! You're not a leader...you're just an annoying anchor holding them back"

A sharp pain stabbed his heart as the girl glared one more time.

"So let me make it perfectly clear for the last time and hopefully it will get through that thick skull that houses the meagre little brain in your head, I Weiss Schnee of the illustrious Schnee family will never ever in my life, consider you anything more than an annoyance!" she then gripped door tight as she swung it with all her might.

"So stop asking me out and buzz off!"

And with that final yell, she slammed the door straight in the face, leaving the boy with a broken expression and a shattered heart. She turned around and huffed as she sat down on her bed, never knowing the pain and hurt she had just caused to the boy outside.

Jaune just stared at the door as his heart beat loudly in his chest, so much that it hurt to the point where he had to get away. He sprinted down the hallway while avoiding bypassing students and hiding his face in the darkness of his hood.

The tears now freely streaking down his face as he continued to run far from the hurt, far away from the harsh words that echoed in his mind and far away from the pain that followed him. But the furthest he got was the cliffs of Beacon as he looked upon the large green forest of initiation, the place where he was launched into the woods so many months ago. The place where he was chosen as leader instead of Pyrrha or Ren.

The place where he made his first true mistake and entered a place that he never belonged...

He stopped as he attempted to reign in the tears that continued to flow, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't stop crying. His heart and his mind were in a constant vortex of emotion and despair that it threatened to spill into his sanity. But it was nothing compared to the pain that ached at his heart.

His heart broken and his mind shattered as the beautiful image he had painted in his head of the white-clad girl began to distort and blur within his mind.

Twisting and turning into a vicious image of self-doubt and hatred, as burning blue eyes forever burned themselves into his soul. He kneeled on the grass as he looked out at the setting sun in the emerald forest. Thinking about the words she had said to him and the truth that was laced with each word she spoke and realised how much of a burden he was to his team, and how he was truly holding each and every one of them back.

Her words had broken something within him, as the dam of inadequacy and doubt that had once gnawed at the edges of his brain, clawed their way back into place as he felt small and weak once again.

The image of Weiss with a look of disgust taunted him as she repeated the words over and over again. One last tear fell down his face as he screamed and held his head in his hands. The tears freely flowing down his face as he cried into his hands, his heart broken and his soul forever damaged by the White haired Heiress.

After what seemed an eternity for the boy, he finally stopped as he looked up and watched the setting sun with a heavy heart, the sun just beginning to set on the horizon and basking the sky in a beautiful colour orange hue. Watching with blank eyes and a heavy heart he felt the cool breeze wash over his form and asked the very question that had plagued him since day one

"What the hell am I even doing here?" he asked himself as he sat on the edge of the cliff.

Not where he was right now, but why he was at Beacon? He began to wonder what it was that drove him to use fake transcripts to sneak his way into Beacon, one of the best academies in the whole of Remnant.

What had driven him to pack his bag, hop on the earliest bulkhead to Vale and lie his way into Beacon? Why did he go through all through the trouble of sneaking into Beacon if all he was going to be was a failure? What was the point of coming here if he was just going to end up failing from the start?

What was it all worth?

With a heavy heart, he looked down as he unclipped the sword on his hip as he looked at the ancient blade. The blade before him held a history of greatness to its name with many warriors carving their names into history and winning the love and devotion of the people around them.

But to Jaune, it was a constant reminder of what he could never see himself as...

A hero and protector of the innocent.

Jaune sighed as he rested the blade on his side and looked out at the sea of green leaves. He thought of his team and how weak by comparison he was to them and he realised that he was holding them back. Compared to them, he was nothing to the strengths and skill they all possessed.

Ren was patient and so skilled in his aura he could kill a King Taiju by making its head explode. He was usually the one that kept their team together by speaking calmly and patiently with all of them as a leader would do.

Nora was already insanely strong with the way she swung her hammer and smashed a Deathstalker's armour plate to pieces. Her attitude and her energy kept the team alive and smiling as she radiated with boundless energy.

And finally his partner, Pyrrha Nikos, the four-time champion of the Mistral Tournament and a prodigy as a hunter. She was a goddess compared to him as a hunter. She was always the one protecting him in a fight, always the one to keep him safe, to lend a hand in battle and even now she still offered to help him. She trained him every night on the rooftops, instead of resting from a long day's work.

And all he was to the team was an anchor, dragging them down with him. They sacrificed time they could have used to better themselves, just to make sure he didn't lag behind them.

"Maybe it would best if I left Beacon? I don't deserve to be here...I never deserved to be here," he said solemnly as the dark thoughts in his mind and words of Weiss whispered in his ear.

"When has anyone ever deserved anything Mister Arc?"

He opened his eyes, as an aged and wiser voice spoke to him. He turned around, as he was meet with the appearance of Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy. The man stood before him with his cane in one hand and coffee mug in the other hand.

"Headmaster?" realising that he still had tears in his eyes, as he brushed the tears away from his eyes as looked at the man. "Sorry, I must look pretty pathetic right now?" The man shook his head as he walked up to the boy.

"Not at all Mister Arc, we all have our moments of weakness. Not even the most veteran of huntsmen can hide their moments of sorrow," he said sagely as he stood next Jaune. He then turned to the boy as he sat next to him. "Now what is it that's troubling you Mister Arc?" he asked as Jaune looked down at this.

"It's nothing sir, it doesn't have to concern you," he said as the man only shook his head.

"When it comes to the well-being of my students it becomes my concern. So tell me what is the matter Mister Arc?"

Jaune sighed at this as he told the man what had happened earlier. The man listened as he nodded as he told him of Weiss's rather harsh rejection and the words she said. The man did not show any emotion, nor did he show any anger at the young heiress' behaviour. He just sat next to the boy and listened, as a mentor should.

"I see...that is a lot to digest, Mister Arc. I have known of Miss Schnee's rather harsh attitude and inability to think outside of her own needs since she arrived at this academy. It's part of the reason she was not chosen to be the leader of her team, but what she said was uncalled for," Jaune looked away as he nodded.

A strange thought had accord as Jaune turned to the man

"Headmaster if I might ask something?" the man nodded as he gestured for him to continue.

"Why did you choose me to be a leader? You've seen how I fight? You know how pathetic I am, so why am I a leader? Clearly, it should have been Ren or Pyrrha" The man looked to ponder the thought but instantly turned back as he faced the boy.

"Well yes, any one of those two would have made a better choice to be the leader of team JNPR?" Jaune instantly felt the jab at that. "But I didn't because of what I witnessed on the day of initiation," Jaune looked back up as the man nodded,

"Mister Arc, anyone can swing a sword or shoot a gun. Anyone could win fame, glory or riches. Yet you mister Arc, not your partner nor Ren nor Nora nor even Miss Nikos was able or even willing to try to analyse your enemy and find its weakness. You on the other hand, with the help of others, exploited it and showed everyone you had the mind of a brilliant tactician." he praised as he stood next to the boy.

"Not only that but you were able to successfully coordinate with three other students you barely knew. You had achieved victory against an opponent far larger than you and showed that you had the ability to trust those around you, that is the true aspects of being a leader Mister Arc." Jaune continued to stare at him as he thought about what the man had said, but still doubted himself as Weiss's words gnawed the inside of his brain.

"But Headmaster, I'm nowhere near as strong as practically everyone at Beacon, nor do I seem to have any ability for this whatsoever. How can I be expected to lead a team, if I can't even protect myself? I just don't have the same strength as them," he said the man as he stood up.

Ozpin looked down at the boy as he decided on an answer that would change the boy's destiny forever.

"You confuse the meaning of strength and ability, Mr Arc. As you may know, we at Beacon keep a close eye on our students to best help them on their way to becoming true Huntsman. That includes your training sessions with your partner to help with your apparent lack of experience due to forged papers," Jaune's eyes widened as the man waved his hand.

"Yes, I am well aware of your false transcripts, but those do not matter. Do you know why?" he asked as Jaune shook his head.

"When you were forced into the forest, facing ceartin death with little to no training. When you were forced to face the Grimm of the forest and the Deathstalker, what did you do?" he smiled as he pointed to the cliff with the ruins of their battle.

"You applied yourself with what you knew, learned about your surroundings and used the resources you had to your advantage. You used your own strength to beat your enemy as well as the strength of those around you. There is more to power than simply beating something or some one up. If that were the case then Miss Valkyrie would have been chosen as the leader of your team and you can image what she would do, wouldn't you?"

Jaune thought for a moment, then shivered at the thought.

...So much destruction, so many grenades...

"I also know about the argument you had with your partner on the roof that night Mister Arc, and I also agree with you. Miss Nikos made a mistake in her approach to help you. There is a fine line between fighting WITH someone and fighting FOR someone. The way she stated her wish to help you made all your past efforts seem to go to waste, thus hurting your pride that you needed to gain strength."

"Though I must say I'm glad you two found a compromise as partners should and admitted your own faults as well. But like I said, you are confusing the real meaning behind the word strength. Do you know why I would never let Yang be leader? She destroyed a night club, hurt its owner and its staff by sending many to the hospital because of her own selfishness and desires. Does that sound like a leader of a huntress? Of someone, you can trust?" he asked as Jaune shook his head at that.

Not that he didn't trust Yang or anything, he did. But she tended to be a bit aggressive when she didn't get what she wanted...and it hurts.

"For you Mister Arc there is a difference. You are a man who doesn't see just the individual, but rather the whole and the many. Yet in your prusit for more strength, you have forgotten where your true strength lies. In a lot of ways you remind me of a old friend who I should listen to more often." He drifted off for a moment as he looked at the boy.

"Look towards not just your team or team RWBY, but to all of them. All the Huntsman and Huntresses inside and outside of school, to even the people in Vale and the common folk. Talk to them and work with them. For that is where your best strength will lie, in the companionships and trust of mankind." Jaune felt something in him as he looked at the man.

"But how do I become stronger?" he asked as the man only pointed back to the school.

"You have a plentiful amount of friends that are willing and able to help you. It is not a weakness to ask for help from those who care for you. Even if you're from such a prestige family, Votre Altesse Royale." Jaune's eyes widened greatly as he looked at the man.

"Y-you know?" he said as the man only placed a finger on his own lips to indicate silence and secrecy.

"I know everything about you Mister Arc, everything, even the things you hide from the rest of the world. And while I have no idea why it is you decided to come to my Academy, I will not turn my doors away from a promising student." He then began to walk away as he waved back to the boy.

"Remember what we talked about Mister Arc, it's not a weakness to ask for help, but rather an experience that must never be wasted" he called out and left the boy to his own devices.

Jaune stared at the man as unconsciously grabbed at his chest, just under his heart. He shook off his surprise, as he looked back at the large institution as he felt a new fire burning within him.

"He's right, I can't just give up now, that would be an insult to everything I did to get here." he stood up as he thought about his friends. "And it would be an insult to them if I quit on them now. I am strong, but I need to get stronger, not just for me, but for my friends as well and everything they did to get here," he said as he faced the cliff and to the setting sun.

"So I am going to get better! I am going to get stronger! I am going to make my team the best team in Beacon! And I'm not going to rest until I reach my goal! That is an Arc Promise!" he yelled as the cliff was basked in pure silence.

"Man, it is a good thing no one was around to hear me say that?" he said as he chuckled to himself.

"I mean I've learned to live without shame, but even I would find that embarrassing," he said as he turned around and started heading towards his dorm room, all the while thinking of how he could change himself. And to do this, he needed to reevaluate himself as both a person and a hunter. He soon made it back to his room as he pulled out his scroll.

' _Ok let us have a look at my grades and see where I need to improve on...'_ he thought to himself as he opened up the grades icon. Instantly he fell to his hands and knees, as a cloud of despair hung heavily over his head.

 _'Good lord these are bad! How the hell have I not been kicked out yet?'_ he thought as he shook his head.

"Nope! Nope! No more despair! I have a promise that I need to keep and I'm not going to lets this stop me, despite how bad...my...grades...are..." he said as his shoulders sagged with each word. He curled up into a ball as the cloud continued to hang over his head.

"Maybe that offer to leave is still open?"

He then shook his head and slapped his cheeks as he glared at his grades "Argh! Pull yourself together man! What would dad say at a time like this?" he said to himself as an image of his father appeared before him. The man grinned as he posed his thumb up to the boy.

"Remember son! Girls love a man with confidence-!"

"THAT DOESN'T HELP RIGHT NOW! DAD!" he threw a pillow at the cloud and swept it away. "Ok, what would mum say?" he thought as an image of his mother appeared before him.

"Listen to your mother Jaune and everything will be all right," she said as she then disappeared leaving Jaune to just stare at the cloud bubble that popped out of existence.

"...Well, that was no help at all...hmm~" he pondered as he thought to himself. "Ok let's think about this logically, my grades a terrible, I don't have a lot of fighting skills and the love of my life has just harshly rejected me...geez I got a lot to work with huh?" he said to himself as he got up and paced the room.

"Well it's clear what I have to do, I need to get stronger which means I have to completely change who I am if I want to be the hunter they need me to be...I need...I need a list!" He walked over to his desk as he pulled out a small black book, with the Arc Crests on the front.

"Ok need to write down my plan so I know that I'm committed to this," He then pulled out a pencil as he began to write down on the paper. On the paper, he wrote down everything he needed to change. He put down his pencil as he looked at the list of the things he needed to change.

* * *

1\. Train harder with Pyrrha, and train when she is not around.

2\. Study harder; don't slack off as usual, which means no more X-ray and Vav for a while...

3\. Get a gun, I'm the only person on the team that does not have a firearm

4\. New clothes for the new me, if I'm going to change so does my wardrobe.

5\. Ask friends for pointers or don't, except for Weiss need to stay clear of her for a while. Probably wouldn't hurt to ask mum, dad and sisters for help.

6\. And finally the most important part of the plan...get over Weiss

* * *

He stopped as he stared at the name Weiss for what seemed like forever. Every second that passed, Jaune felt a small ache in his heart as he stared at the name that tore his heart out. He remembered the day they had met, as she had pointed to him from across the auditorium and thought she was checking him out.

The moment he saw her, he was smitten by her beauty and wanted to be closer to her. But the recent events of today had opened his eyes to the girl he fell for.

She was not as kind as he thought she was. She did not care about him as a person or saw him as a fellow hunter in training. But the most important thing he learnt was that her heart was nothing but an icy shell, unattainable and cold to him and forever out of his reach.

But that didn't mean he would avoid her and be as cold as she was to him. He just decided that maybe the two of them had space. He just hoped that the wound in his heart would eventually heal.

He shook his head when he realized that he was still fixated on her, something he had to get rid of. Looking up at the clock, he realised that it was time for his training session with Pyrrha. So placing the book in his breastplate and strapping his sword to his waist. He stood up proudly as he marched towards the roof.

 _'Starting today the old Jaune is gone...from tomorrow onwards, there's going to be a new Jaune Arc walking these halls!'_ he thought as looked towards the new tomorrow.

* * *

Pyrrha waited patiently on the rooftop for her partner, and of course secret crush. While most would probably wonder, mostly Weiss in general, why it was that the girl had a crush on the boy. Most would argue that he had no skill, no talent for combat and no charm whatsoever.

So why was it that a girl such as the Pyrrha Nikos, had one of the hugest crushes on the resident dense knight of Beacon?

It was because Jaune had done something that no one had done since she was a child before her fame and popularity had placed her on a pedestal so high up, something that she deeply cherished in the blond haired boy that had brought a great happiness in her very soul. He saw her not as a champion of the gladiatorial ring, an idol to all aspiring hunters and huntress in training or even the mascot to a rather unhealthy cereal brand...

He saw her as Pyrrha Nikos the person, not the idol

Ever since she saw him in the auditorium that day she knew there was something special about the boy. From his somewhat clumsy movements to the bunny shaped pyjamas he wore, a personal screensaver on her scroll.

There was just something about him that drew her like a moth to an open flame. A brilliant light that made her feel a sense of joy and happiness and how desperately she wanted that light for her own, to cherish it for all of her time. But unfortunately, she believed that his heart yearned for another and that person was Weiss Schnee.

Now she didn't hate Weiss per say, she had grown to respect her as a fellow huntress. She didn't, however, like her as a woman who had successfully managed to capture the heart of her crush. And Weiss didn't try to win his heart, nor did she seem to care about it either and that made her somewhat...disdain the Heiress because she was throwing away a perfectly good person.

Someone who showed loyalty, kindness and always greeted anyone he met with a smile. She just couldn't understand why any girl couldn't notice that about him? All they ever judge him on was the way he fought and the grades he received.

She thought she was just foolish to pass up someone like him and really wished that she could just tell him how she felt. But alas she could never bring herself to do it, as she believed that she should just let Jaune follow his heart...

Even if it went further from hers.

She sighed as she looked up at the night sky "It what's best for him Pyrrha..." she muttered to herself as she closed her eyes, the sound of the door opening bright her back, as she turned and smiled at the door.

"Glad to see you've made it Jaune..." she stopped as she noticed something different about the boy.

He held himself differently than usual, not slouched and unsure of himself. But rather he held himself taller, more determined and his eyes seemed to burn brighter than any time she had ever seen him before.

"Jaune?" the boy walked towards her right until he was up close to her. A healthy blush formed on her face as stared into her green eyes. Many fantasies began to play in her mind, as her blush grew deeper.

"J-Jaune!" he leant in closer, she could hear her heart beating faster in her chest, so much she was afraid he could hear it.

"Pyrrha, I never noticed how beautiful you looked under the pale moonlight" he whispered into her ears as she could hear a seductive tone in his voice that sent shivers up her spine. He brought his hand to her chin and lifted it gently up to him. His eyes seemed to gaze into her soul as her legs began to wobble and her breath became short.

"J-Jaune" she muttered softly as their lips drew closer and closer as her heart beat faster in her chest.

"Pyrrha~, Pyrrha~..." she closed her eyes as she could almost feel his breath upon her lips as she prepared to share her first kiss.

"Pyrrha!"

Instantly she was snapped out of her fantasy as she realised Jaune was looking at her with a confused expression on his face, as he stood at the door to the roof. Which meant that all that had just occurred then was nothing more than her fantasy running wild.

"You ok Pyrrha? Your face looks kind of red?" the girl blushed a bright shade of red as she waved her hands in front of her.

"I-I'm fine! Really! I was just got lost in a train of thought! Nothing to worry about!" The girl said as she desperately hoped and prayed that she didn't accidentally slip the fact that she liked him. She felt so embarrassed in getting caught up in her own fantasy world that she had for a moment neglected the real one.

Luckily she didn't so her secret was safe for now.

"Oh, ok?" he said not knowing what to say in this kind of situation. Pyrrha sighed a breath of relief as she placed her hand on her beating heart thanking her lucky stars for not making her face an embarrassing situation.

"Anyway I'm ready to begin training," he said as he grabbed the hilt of his sword. She smiled as she went to grab her Xiphos from the ledge.

"That's good to hear Jaune, tonight we'll work on-"

"Wait," he stopped her as she halted her action as Jaune held a handout. "Before we start I just want to say something," the girl paused as the boy took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry".

This confused her as she tilted her head slightly, "Pardon?" she asked as the boy spoke again.

"I said I'm sorry, sorry I'm not the partner I should be for you or the leader you, Ren and Nora need me to be...I'm sorry I've done nothing but holding you back and dragging you down...I'm sorry" Pyrrha instantly shook her head as she grasped his arm.

"Jaune! You're not holding us back, we don't feel that way about you-"

"But that's how I feel about you...I feel like I'm nothing but some anchor that's holding you, Ren and Nora back from being the great warriors you're born to be...I'm dragging you all down" he said as Pyrrha had a small tear in her eyes.

"Jaune...we could never feel that way about-" she whispered slightly as she fought the urge to stroke his face with her hand, but was stopped as Jaune grabbed a hold of her hand and held it in his own.

"But that is all about to change..." he said as he looked back up and stared into her eyes. "Starting from now I'm going to be the partner you deserve and the leader that you need me to be," he let go as he raised his fist high above his head.

"I'm not going be the anchor that holds you down, but the wind that pushes you all to greatness!" he thumped his hand on his chest and looked back at her with a new fire burning in his eyes. "From now on! I Jaune Arc will get better grades! Become a better hunter and graduate this academy with my head held high and my friends by my side as we take the world by storm!"

Pyrrha could only look on in slight awe, as she saw the new determination that burned in her leader. A kind of fire that she was desperately searching inside of him to burst out and become the person she knows he can be. She did not know where it came from, or how it came to be. But she was happy that she was the first to see it before the world would soon know, the fire of Jaune Arc.

"And starting from right now! My crush on Weiss Schnee-" her heart tightened slightly as she was afraid of the next words to come out as devotions of love. "Is officially and permanently over!"

"...Eh?"

She definitely was not expecting that. The rooftop was silent as the red haired girl stared blankly at the boy, her brain still trying to process what he had just said.

"Whoa...did not mean to scream all that out loud, man that was slightly embarrassing huh Pyrrha? Pyrrha?" The girl stared blankly as the words 'Crush', 'Weiss' and 'Over' swarmed around her mind. Words she thought he would never, ever, say out loud.

"Pyrrha?" he asked slightly concerned at her expression. "Are you ok?" he waved his hand in front of her face as she slowly nodded.

"I'm fine really...just turn around...for a moment please, I need to do something real quick ok?" she said rather emotionlessly as the boy looked slightly confused. But complied no the less as turned around.

"...Ok?" he said, as he was now facing the wall, having no idea why she asked him to do this. _'I don't understand, but might as well go with it'_ he thought as he stared at the wall.

Meanwhile Pyrrha, after making sure that her partner could not see her at all, turned around and placed her hands on her mouth to stop her from screaming. ' _YES! YES! YES! THANK YOU, GODS ABOVE! I HAVE A CHANCE!'_ she screamed internally as small fireworks and banners appeared in her mind.

Small little versions of herself were dancing and cheering, as some of them waved small banners saying operation 'Arkos ago' while doing a small dance in her mind. Jaune, on the other hand, was completely oblivious as to what his partner was doing behind his back.

 _'I still don't get it'_ he thought to himself as she was now dancing silently behind him.

Seriously how did he not notice that? Well, the answer was simple because he was Jaune Arc, King of both Harem stories and Obliviousness. He felt a tap on his shoulder as he turned to see a very happy looking Pyrrha as she smiled widely at him.

"Sorry about that Jaune, I just need to prepare the lessons for tonight," she said as Jaune raised an eyebrow at this. But accepted like the gullible fool that he was. "Now let's get back to training," she said as Jaune only nodded at the girl.

"Ok and Pyrrha, thanks...for everything," he said as the girl turned back to him as she smiled at the blond haired boy.

"No problem Jaune..." she said as the two took their stance as the pair lunged at each other. Their swords clashing together as the night soon rained with sparks and the fire of determination in both their hearts.

* * *

Ozpin smirked slightly as he watched the two from his scroll, the new determination that burned in the boy, was just what he had expected to happen in the boy. Albeit he did not expect the little performance that Miss Nikos displayed, but recorded it nonetheless.

"About time the boy started to get his act together," a feminine voice spoke beside him, as he turned to see Glynda Goodwitch standing beside him, and watching the same thing he did.

"Indeed Glynda, though I must argue that Mister Always had talent before he came to Beacon, he just needed a little time to realize it himself," he casually sipped his drink as the woman stared at the screen.

"I know that what he represents is a major significance to his home, but why did you wait until now to start motivating him?" she questioned as the man set his mug down, and laced his fingers together.

"For change to happen Glynda it cannot be forced onto someone, it has to happen of their own free will. And while I did not expect Miss Schnee's involvement to be quite as harsh, it was the necessary trigger to start this change." He picked up his coffee and sipped from it as he looked at her. "As I said Glynda you can never force change, only guide it as it happens and watches as it blooms," he said as Glynda could only nod and looked back at the monitor.

"Should we alert his parents? Let them know that their son has finally begun to take his training seriously?" the man pondered this as he nodded.

"We might as well, can't have those two completely in the dark, not with the amount of influence they possess" he then sent a copy of Jaune's determination video to the boy's parents.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure they are already aware of it right now..."

* * *

Meanwhile far away from Beacon

* * *

A tall man with blond hair smiled as he watched the video sent to him by his old friend, and smiled at the determination and spirit that burned brightly in his son's eyes. "He looks so grown up now huh?" a voice spoke next to him, as he turned to see a woman with light brown hair and emerald green eyes as she smiled at her son.

The man chuckled slightly as he wrapped an arm around the woman. "He sure has dear...our little Jaune is growing up," he said with pride as he and his wife held each other close. The sight of their son training and pushing himself harder only made the parents proud of their only son. He felt a tight grip on his shirt as he looked down to see his wife, grasping at his shirt and tears swelling from her eyes.

"Diane?" he asked the woman only shook her head and wiped her tears away.

"I know I should be happy for him Roland, I really am, but I'm just so worried about him. He is going to have so much on his plate soon, I'm just afraid that we'll lose our baby boy," she cried slightly as the man held her close.

"I know how you feel," he said as he wiped away more tears, "But you and I both agreed that this was best for him. We had tried to keep him away from his dream for so long that it only made him peruse it harder..." he looked up at the large fireplace, as he stared at the portrait above it.

"Maybe it was my fault for telling him those stories he loved so much, or maybe it was the weight of the responsibilities that he will one day possess..." he turned back as he smiled at her.

"But what's happened has happened, and we just need to support as best as we can" the woman only looked down for a moment, before looking back up and nodding. "Besides..." he said as the two walked through a large archway onto a beautiful balcony.

"He will need all the help he can get before he becomes the next King of Arcadia"

The two looked out at the large city before them, surrounded by a large forest and tall mountains stretching as far as the eye could see. Bullheads and ships soaring in the sky as the banner of the kingdom waved high in the sky.

A symbol of the two crescent arc's with a triangle at the bottom and a sword impaled in the middle of the symbol fluttered in the wind as it stood tall and proud over the kingdom. As the man and his wife looked out upon the Kingdom that would one day be their son's, they stopped and dreamed of the future that their son would lead them into...and the trials that he would face.

* * *

 **And Scene, here is a chapter Idea I've had ever since I read 'Mr. and Mrs Arc' by Dr Jhon Smith, a really funny and entertaining read that should be checked out. It's the story focusing on the idea that Jaune is secretly a prince, and hasn't told his friends about it.**

 **I found this idea so good that I want to attempt this as well. So after getting permission to use the name Arcadia from him, I began writing this story with my own twist.**

 **The Kingdom is called Arcadia, situated on the island that looks like a large dragon in the centre. And isn't an official Kingdom because they are ruled by a monarch rather than a council.**

 **If you think I should continue this story, let me know in the review comments and tell me if I should.**

 **Sincerely Masseffect-TxS**


	2. Chapter II: Resolve of an Arc

RWBY: The Ascension of a King

After a rather harsh rejection from Weiss Schnee, Jaune realises that he needed to stop chasing her and become stronger. With the help of his team and that of Ruby, Yang, and Blake, He will strive to become the hero he dreams to be. All the while hiding a secret that would rock the world of RWBY.

* * *

Chapter II: Resolve of an Arc

* * *

The sound of crashing wood could be heard in the early morning, as a blond haired boy and a red-haired goddess clashed their blades in the training arena. Their bodies moving in an intricate dance as the resonating sounds of wood cracking against each other echoed in the arena.

The boy moving slower compared to the girl as she twisted and turned away from his strikes with ease. She countered his sword with a well-placed strike to his chest, followed by a roundhouse kick to the side of his head that sent him spiralling across the arena and slammed into the floor.

"Ouch! Definitely Ouch!" the boy yelped as he landed face first on the floor, as he struggled to stand up as his body ached slightly. A light bead of sweat glistened his brow as he looked over at the girl who had neither a sweat nor a pause in her breath.

 _'Seriously? Could she at least pretend to look like she put some effort into kicking my butt?'_ he thought as the girl walked over to him. She smiled as she walked over to the boy and offered her hand.

"That was good Jaune, you've got the swings down, but your centre of gravity is still off. You need to learn to balance yourself during combat. Otherwise, your opponents will just continue to use your own weight against you." Pyrrha lectured as she pulled the boy up.

Jaune only nodded sheepishly as he smiled slightly at the girl "Yeah so you've told me, but how am I suppose to do that if you keep coming at me like a madman?" he made a few random swings that caused Pyrrha to giggle as she folded her hands behind her back.

"Perhaps I should demonstrate?" she took a few steps back as she held her arms out. "Try and hit me," she said cryptically as Jaune looked unsure of her behaviour.

"Well come on, I'm waiting"

She beckoned to him as Jaune only shrugged and swung his sword at her. Only for her to completely sidestep his blade and smacked her blunt sword into his backside, causing a small yelp from the boy as he now rubbed his posterior.

"Well come on, I'm waiting" she beckoned to him as Jaune only shrugged and swung his sword at her. Only for her to completely sidestep his attack and smacked her blunt sword into his backside causing a small yelp from the boy as he now rubbed his posterior.

"Again," she said as Jaune attacked her again.

Only for the same thing to happen as she sidestepped him and smacked her sword against his behind.

"Again," she said with a slight mock as he growled slightly and swung his sword again, and again and again.

Each time ended with the same result, he missed and she hit him again in the butt. Jaune then went in for a tackle, only for Pyrrha to completely duck under him and flip him onto his back.

His body went crashing into the floor with a loud thump as the air quickly left his chest and for a moment the sound of glass shattered in his mind as he stared up blankly at the ceiling.

 _'...I think I just heard my pride shatter?'_ he thought as he looked up the see the girl smirking slightly at him.

"Did you see it?" she asked as the boy raised an eyebrow.

"The moment when my pride shattered? Or the moment I got my butt kicked? Either way, I think it happened at the same time," she chuckled as she pointed to her feet.

"I shifted my feet." She demonstrated as she moved her feet, which shifted and stood stronger than before.

"Footwork and stances are key elements in combat, especially when fighting an opponent that's larger than your own." She lectured as she helped the young man off the floor. "If you have the right stance and the proper footwork, even the largest opponent will be no match for you." Jaune pondered this as he listened to his teammate's advice.

Last night after Jaune had declared that he would get stronger and get over Weiss. The two spent some time designing a workout schedule, in order for Jaune to improve himself. It was decided that the pair would train a maximum of one hour in the morning and one hour at night before they went to bed and during the day when classes were over, and another two hours in the arena.

However, during their training, Pyrrha had noticed that Jaune was lacking a somewhat basic stance, something that all hunters needed in combat. Bearing this in mind she decided to take his training back to the basics, teaching the boy a series of stance that she learned from a young age, ones that he would especially benefit with his style of sword and shield.

Out of curiosity, Jaune had asked if he could learn to use other stances. For example, one where he could use two swords part of his reasoning was that he wanted to branch out with his weaponry and always thought that using two swords were kind of cool.

Unfortunately, she was only trained in shield, sword and javelin techniques.

Meaning that if he wanted to learn other styles he would need to ask someone who trained extensively in that art. But for now, he was more than content with brushing up and improving on his the basics.

"So until I learn a proper stance, I'm nothing but a throw pillow huh?" he asked as the girl only giggled in response. Jaune sighed as he saw his partner laughing. "Yeah that's what I thought..." a loud growl was heard as Jaune looked at his stomach.

"I think that's enough training for now, let's get to the cafeteria and get something to eat Jaune," Pyrrha said as she gestured to the door. Jaune nodded as he placed the sword on the stand and followed after her.

"Right behind you," he said as he followed the girl to the cafeteria. As soon as they arrived they immediately found the rest of their team, as there was only one table with a large stack of pancakes, which usually meant Nora was there. The pair walked over as they were soon reunited with the rest of their team.

Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, the R and N of team JNPR and the closest thing to a brother and sister that Jaune could ever have. Sure he had seven other sisters back home, but with these two, he felt the same genuine connection he had with his family. Ren looked up from his coffee as he spied his team leader and Pyrrha walk into the cafeteria, after grabbing their food.

"Well good morning you two, we didn't see you this morning. Where were you?" he asked as Nora, being too busy to ask, devoured her pancakes. Pyrrha smiled as she grabbed an apple from the table.

"Jaune wanted to get some morning training in before class. He actually told me last night that he wanted to get better, and prove himself as a leader" she said as Jaune only chuckled nervously.

"Well that is impressive Jaune, I'm correct in assuming that this is another attempt to get Weiss to notice you?" he asked as he sipped some of his coffee. He was surprised however to see the boy shake his head in response.

"Actually I'm trying to get over her"

Ren choked a bit on his coffee as he looked at the boy in shock. It didn't help that Nora wanted to help, by slamming on his back really hard. But after that, he was able to recompose himself as he looked at his team leader.

"Really? You, want to get over Weiss? The girl you've been pining after since day one?" a subtle glare from Pyrrha made him wisely shut up. Jaune, however, didn't notice as he just nodded.

"Yeah...I recently learned that she'll never be into me, and I shouldn't wasting my time going after someone who could never like me. But instead, focus my time on getting stronger for not only myself but for my team." He sighed slightly as he looked up at his team, as they stared at the boy; Nora even stopped eating her pancakes to look at the boy.

"I know I haven't been the best leader for you guys and I haven't really proven myself to be someone who has the right to lead you...But I'm hoping that you'll give me another chance, to prove that I will do anything and everything in my power to be the leader you need me to be."

While his speech was endearing to the other two, the way he spoke made Ren suspicious, as he had a feeling that somehow Weiss was responsible for this change. Whether it was in a positive way or a negative way, he could not be sure of. But what he was proud of, was the fact that his leader was taking the initiative.

He was willing to admit his faults and actually do something about them, true markings of a great leader in the works.

"That's pretty ambiguous of you, fearless leader, and I think I speak for Nora as well when we say that we'll help you no matter what." A furious nod from Nora signalled her response.

"Yep! Yep!" she said with a toothy grin on her face and half a pancake hanging from her mouth. Jaune smiled slightly at this as he was glad to have friends he could actually count on.

 _'I guess Ozpin was right, Its, not a weakness to ask others for help'_ he smiled as he watched his team.

"So~ does that mean operation Arko's is a go?" Nora asked absent-mindedly.

In response to this Pyrrha spat out her drink and blushed deep red, while Ren had to hold back his laughter as Jaune looked confused. "Operation Arkos? What the heck is that?" Nora smiled as she turned to Jaune.

"Well fearless leader in Pyrrha's diary, Operation Arkos is-!" she didn't get to finish as Pyrrha jumped across the table and shoved a pancake in her mouth.

"Nora! What have I told you about going through my stuff!" Pyrrha hissed at the girl with cat-like eyes which only caused her to laugh at the beet red girl.

"But it's so fun! Especially on page 52- HMM!"

Pyrrha shoved another pancake into the girl's mouth; her face seemed to blush even brighter than before as small wisps of steam rolled off her head. Jaune looked confused as he turned to Ren hoping for some answers. But the other boy only continued to hold back his laughter as he watched the two women of the group, attempt to hash things out.

"Uh, Ren? What is operation Arkos?" Ren only chuckled as he looked at his oblivious team leader.

"Nothing to worry about Jaune" a quick glance at his blushing teammate, told him otherwise.

"Somehow I don't fully believe that?" he said with a deadpan expression, before shrugging it off and eating his breakfast.

"Don't believe what Jaune?" a young voice spoke as Jaune slightly flinched at the voice as he turned around slowly only to see three of the four members of team RWBY.

The prodigal scythes-wielding leader Ruby Rose, the blond bombshell Yang Xiao Long and the resident ninja of Beacon Blake Belladonna. He sighed a breath of relief as he was glad Weiss was not among them yet; he was not ready to face her yet.

"Oh Ruby, good morning to you too. Nothing, just something my team isn't telling me," he said as he looked back to his team. Nora devouring her pancakes, Ren still holding back slight chuckles and Pyrrha avoid eye contact with him at all cost with a slight blush on her face.

"Yeah, that's great Vomit-boy," Yang said as they place their trays on the table, and sat beside the resident team. Jaune slightly cringed when he heard that nickname, a nickname that had been haunting him since he threw up on the airships six months ago.

"Seriously, can you stop calling me by that name?"

"Nope," Yang said as she devoured a pancake in seconds, completely ignoring the stink eye Jaune shot at her.

"Figured as much" Jaune sighed as he went back to eating his food, silently fantasying about a day when she would not call him by that name. "So...Where's Weiss? She not with you guys?" Jaune asked as he dreaded seeing the heiress, after what happened last night. Ruby shook her head as she ate a bowl of strawberries.

"No she's still in the shower, she says that as an Heiress of her company she needs to 'present herself in the most dignified manner at all times'...whatever the heck that means?" Yang rolled her eyes at this.

"She means that Ice Queen is putting her face on, she'll join us in a minute or so," she simplified what he sister had just told them.

"Oh ok..." the boy said as Yang smirked and leant over the table.

"Why do you ask? You want to put the moves on her so early today?" she said as her grin reminded Jaune of the animals back at the zoo, the ones that liked to play with their food. Jaune frowned slightly as he moved his head to the side.

"No, besides I'm trying to get over Snow-! I mean Weiss" his heart ached slightly as an image of her enraged face came into his mind. Yang, Blake and Ruby recoiled slightly at this as they looked to Ren and Pyrrha, who nodded in confirmation. Yang whistled slightly as she turned back to the blond Arc.

"What brought this interesting change of pace? Realised that Ice Queen's doesn't want a Knight in her life just yet?" she quipped slightly as Jaune only narrowed his vision.

"No just...realised that I'll never be her type"

This brought a concerned look to the rest, as they found his behaviour to be strange. Normally they would have assumed, Weiss would reject his advance and he would just bounce right back. But the way he acted made it seemed that she took his heart, and stomped into the ground with her heels.

Which is essentially what she did, but Jaune wasn't going to tell them that.

After all, if the rest of RWBY didn't know what happened, then it was right to assume that Weiss hadn't told them what she did. And for now, that just exactly what he wanted. The last thing he wanted was to drive a wedge between the team. Ruby looked at her first friend with concern as she reached out to grab his arm.

"Jaune, are you ok?" she asked before he pulled his arm back and smiled at the girl.

"I'm fine Ruby honest, don't worry about me ok?" While his words sounded sincere, Ruby could tell that his smile was fake, something her and Pyrrha could instantly pick up on. Jaune looked at his scroll as he saw the time, and knew that class would begin soon.

"Jaune-"

"I'm going to head off to Oobleck's class now, I'll see you in a bit guys," he said as he stood up, not giving them a chance to stop him, took his tray to the bin and walked out through the door. But as he turned the corner in the large hall, he bumped into the last person he wanted to see this morning.

Was none other than Weiss Schnee

The two just stared at each other. His heart slightly hitched in his throat, as memories of last night came rushing back to him. The words, the anger and the feeling of inadequacy all slammed into him, as the White Haired Heiress looked stunned before glaring harshly at the boy.

"Oh great, not even fifteen minutes into the morning and already you're trying to court me again. I guess true dolts never do learn from their mistakes?" she said harshly as Jaune flinched back at the tone. But he shook his head and stood strong as he glared right back at the girl.

"Actually I was just leaving Weiss, so if you can move out of the way, I'll kindly leave you alone."

The tone of his voice stunned her momentarily before Jaune rolled his eyes and moved past her. Leaving the white-haired maiden to stare back stupidly, before raising her head and storming to the rest of the team. But she stopped briefly as she turned back to the hall as she watched the boy's retreating back.

 _'Did he just call me Weiss?'_ she thought to herself as Jaune played no mind to the girl behind him, and continued to walk away. Steeling his resolve to get over the white-haired maiden that once resided in his heart.

Even if it meant that he had to ignore her completely to do it.

Jaune eventually made his way to Oobleck's history class as he moved to his usual seat. But stopped as he realised that he usually sat next to Weiss in any class they had together.

 _'Damn it, how can I get over her if I'm constantly sitting next to her?'_ he sighed with aggravation as he tried to think of a way around this hurdle. He looked over to where his partner would sit and sit in the chair next to her. Normally Blake would sit next Pyrrha and Jaune would be over near Weiss so as to get closer to her.

But if Jaune wanted to truly get over her, he needed to be sitting as far away from her as he could. Sitting down he began to mentally go over his plan to become a better hunter.

* * *

1\. Get better grades,

2\. Get stronger at fighting

3\. Get new clothes

4\. Get a gun

5\. Get over Weiss

* * *

The first four things he knew he could do, if he put the initiative into it, it was the last one that was proving to be more difficult than he could ever imagine. The mere mention of her name would send chills down his spine.

How was he expected to get over his first crush?

How could he be expected to let go of the woman he fell in love with? How could he ever hope to get over her, if he can't even get her off his mind? He knew that she would never be into him and he definitely knew that she thought very little of him. So why was it so hard to let go?

Maybe it was because deep down, some part of him was still in love with the girl and was refusing to let go. His mother and father always said that love was the strongest and most dangerous power in the entire world. Love could bring a man higher than any cloud or star in the sky, or crush him to the bottomless pits of despair.

Love was a tricky and unpredictable emotion, one that can not be easily overcome, getting over Weiss would prove just as challenging as climbing the tallest mountain and was not easy to let go of. Jaune shook his head as he tightened his fist.

 _'No it's not impossible, I will get over Weiss and I will be a better hunter!'_ the boy mentally thought to himself as he then relaxed in his seat.

Soon enough more students began to enter the class, as Pyrrha and Blake went to take their regular seats. They were slightly surprised to see Jaune, not sitting next to Weiss and actually in the seat next to Pyrrha's.

"Jaune? What are you doing up here?" Pyrrha asked slightly surprised to see her partner seated near her, not that she was complaining mind you, but the act only made her heart flutter at the prospect of sitting so close to her crush.

"Usually, you're over there, sitting next to Weiss" Blake pointed out as the resident Ice Queen strolled into the room, and sat in her usual seat. Jaune scratched the back of his head nervously as he smiled.

"Yeah, well if I actually want to get over Weiss. I figured I needed to be as far away from her as possible. So I hope you don't mind if we can swap seats, Blake?" He placed his hands together as he bowed to her slightly.

"Please do me this favour, I'll pay you back in any way I can," he said as Blake raised an eyebrow at this and pondered.

A quick glance at Pyrrha and she could instantly tell that the girl wanted this if the fact that her eyes basically screamed 'please swap seats with him' were anything to go on. The feline huntress sighed as she crossed her arms.

"Fine, I'll swap seats with you" Jaune smiled widely before she pointed a finger straight at his face. "But you owe me for this one Arc and when the time comes, I'll expect you to fulfil your promise." Jaune smiled as he placed a hand on his chest and over his heart.

"When an Arc gives his word, he never goes back on it," he said as the cat girl only nodded and moved over to where he would sit.

Pyrrha squealed internally as she sat next to the boy. Looking at her partner, she could feel the heat tinge her cheeks as she sat so close to him in class. She instantly schooled herself as she turned her attention back to the classroom with the occasional glance to her oblivious partner.

Weiss looked over as she saw the boy, who she found annoying and a waste of space, sitting so far from her. She found it slightly odd that the boy was taking such precautions to avoid her, seeing as he spent so much time trying to get closer to her.

To be truthfully she didn't rightfully care for the boy and only tolerated him because of her affiliation with her partner. But even she didn't know how to respond to this, to be actively ignored by Jaune Arc of all people. Why was the boy going out of her way to avoid her? And why did it feel strangely odd to her? As soon as Blake sat next to her, she grabbed the girl's attention.

"What's going on with Arc? Why does he seem to be avoiding me today? Not that I find anything wrong with it" she said as he watched the boy seem to be focusing on the lecture.

Blake shrugged her shoulders slightly as she looked at the heiress "Jaune say's he is trying to get over you, say's he realised that you'll never be into him and decided to move on from you" Weiss had a slightly gobsmacked look on her face as she spared a quick glance at the boy. Before she smirked and raised her head proudly.

"So the dunce finally learned to take a hint? I guess he finally learnt his lesson from yesterday," she said smugly as Blake turned to the heiress.

"What do you mean? What happened yesterday?" Blake asked the white-haired girl who waved her hand dismissively.

"Nothing to worry about Blake, but for now, I can finally relax knowing that the boy will no longer bother me for a stupid date," she said as she picked up her textbook and hummed to herself.

Blake glanced at her for a brief moment before she looked over to Jaune, as he tried desperately to keep up with professor Oobleck - which was difficult enough to do because of how fast he talks.

Normally she wouldn't really take any interest in the going on of Jaune's, now former, obsession with the heiress. After all, what Jaune did in his own time was none of her business. But despite that, she like most of her team were curious as to why Jaune had decided to give up on asking Weiss out.

At the breakfast table when Ruby asked what was up with Jaune, Weiss only shrugged as she merely said that Jaune had tried asking her out and she shot him down again. Standard procedure in Beacon now, but the way he was acting was definitely strange. But for now, she wanted to focus on her study, as she too found it hard to keep up with the coffee enhanced teacher.

Jaune, on the other hand, was desperately trying to take down notes, as the professor kept speaking at high speeds. Normally he would just doze off in Professor Oobleck's class and ask for notes from Pyrrha later. But if Jaune was determined to get better grades and make himself into a better leader, then he had to pay more attention in class.

Even if it meant he had to keep up with the Professor's strange speed.

"And so class, that was how General Iroh of Vale lead the victorious battle of Crescent Valley and secured 'The StrongKeep of the Moon'! Now any questions before I start the next subject?!"

Jaune raised his hand to speak, hopefully, to get the man to repeat his previous lesson.

"None? Great! Moving on!" the man said as he zipped around the room and Jaune's head firmly met the hardwood of his desk. His partner patted his back in sympathy, slightly taking the pleasure of comforting her partner.

"Now class today we will be talking about the Kingdom of Arcadia" Jaune's head went up slightly as he heard the name of his home country.

"The reason we'll be discussing this is that soon the country will be celebrating its 218th year since its foundation, a birthday to the kingdom so to speak. Now can anyone tell me what they know about Arcadia?"

Immediately Weiss' hand went up as she puffed her, in Yang's words, none existent chest as the teacher pointed to her.

"The Kingdom of Arcadia is one of the largest settlements in Remnant, located on the large Island between Vacuo and Vale and is comparable in size to the Kingdoms of Vale and Atlas. While not officially recognised as one of the great Kingdoms, its large infrastructure and economic wealth makes it on par with the other four Kingdoms"

"That is correct Miss Schnee"

Weiss smirked at this as Jaune paid especially close attention to the facts about his home. "Now can anyone tell me, why it is not officially recognised as the Fifth Kingdom?" Pyrrha raised her hand up this time as the teacher pointed to her.

"It's because the Kingdom itself has chosen not to take on the title. While it is a Kingdom, it is not completely governed by a council, but rather is ruled by the Monarch of the Arcadian bloodline" Oobleck nodded as he went over to the board and pointed to the map.

"That is correct Miss Nikos"

"Wow, I can't believe you know so much about Arcadia Pyrrha?" Jaune said as Pyrrha only nodded to her partner.

"Well my father does regular business with the Arcadian Recon Corps when Arcadia and Mistral join forces for expansion long missions, he is Captain of the Mistral Recon Force after all" Jaune nodded as he went back to the lecture.

"As Miss Nikos said, unlike other Kingdoms that are ruled by a Council, the Kingdom of Arcadia is almost completely ruled by the Arcadian Monarchy with a fair support of advisors and a small council, though they do not possess the same power as the King" he straightened his glasses as he spoke.

"The Arcadian Monarch has been in power since its founding over two hundred and eighteen years ago, or longer if we were to go into the Kingdom's mythology," he pulled down a slide as it showed an old painting of a warrior on a hill. Jaune instantly recognised it as his Ancestor Julius Arc, the first King of Arcadia and founder of the whole nation.

"This man was the first King of Arcadia who was simply known as 'Julius the Founder' who gathered together a band of Human and Faunus followers and founded the Kingdom of Arcadia, roughly translated it means 'The City of Paradise' so the text says," Oobleck said as Cardin scoffed.

"He actually wanted to work with the Faunus? What kind of leader would ever want to team up with mangy beasts? Must have used them as guard dogs or something?"

Jaune instantly glared at him finding it as a huge insult to his family who had done nothing but supports the Faunus rights. Blake was faring no better as she narrowed her eyes at the insensitive boy, her amber eyes gaining a slit-like quality for a brief moment as she glared at the arrogant boy.

"Actually Mr Winchester, the First King of Arcadia sought out the Faunus not to act as 'guard dogs' as you refer, but to have them join as citizens of his ever-growing Kingdom" Blake listened intensely as she remembered hearing the stories when she was young.

"The Arcadian Royalty has always seen the Faunus as a free race for many years and wanted to give them fair treatment, it was only during the reign of Cornelius the First did the Faunus Citizens actively joined the Kingdoms military," Oobleck said as he went back to the students.

"Arcadia became a Kingdom that had embraced the ideology of true freedom and equality for all its citizens, whether they be Faunus or human. In fact, originally the first King wanted the people to rule and allow them to govern themselves, like the council of the other Kingdoms. But the man had earned so much trust in his people that they chose him to rule them and cemented his family's reign for the last two hundred years, firmly sticking to the belief that everyone had the right to be free and equal. Especially after 'The Great War' when most of the Kingdoms had forced the Faunus race to the continent of Menagerie. Arcadia had refused to isolate their Faunus citizens and instead offered sanctuary for any Faunus that wanted equality and peace from the aftermaths of war."

"Unfortunately, this had sparked a small conflict between the Arcadian and the former Kingdom of Mantle - the Kingdom that preceded the Kingdom of Atlas - who were attempting to bar Faunus civilians from entering Arcadia," he pointed to the map.

"At one point, a young General from Mantle had attempted to invade Arcadia at one time, against his own government's will and take possession of the land and people that the Kingdom had sought to shelter. The man was even willing to destroy Arcadia if it meant that that Atlas would increase its power," Blake tightened her fist as she listened intensely to the story.

"The General planned to storm the walls of Arcadia and march his army through the Kingdom and force the Faunus into Menagerie, where the council believed all Faunus should belong...but the King at the time refused and declared that if they did not withdraw their forces from his land, he would severely punish them for daring to enter his Kingdom."

"Undeterred by this, the General marched his troops along the mountain ranges of and reached the Gates of Arcadia." Oobleck showed a map of the Vacuo army and the large circular wall of Arcadia.

"Arrogant of his numbers, he offered to spare the human lives if they hand over the Faunus civilians. The King still refused to hand over his citizens as the Army began their assault on Arcadia..." the man's glasses reflected off the light as he stared emotionless at the class.

"The Generals Army was swiftly defeated by one man in a matter of seconds by the King himself, Cornelius the third" this caused the class to grow silent as the man pushed his glasses up.

"Unlike most Kingdoms where the leaders would hide behind their walls and send their troops to death, the Arcadian royalty believed that it was their responsibility to protect their people and would rather put their lives on the line, then walk over the bodies of their comrades..."

The man breathed in as he flashed back to his younger day's when he heard of an entire army being defeated and rendered broken by one man, a man who was said to have been the second strongest human in history.

"Most you don't know this, but every King of Arcadia is expected to reach a level of strength, where they can essentially protect the entire city themselves. They would become the shield that shelters their people and shoulders all of their burdens...they become the symbol strength for which they stand for," he sent a subtle glance to Jaune before going back to work. Oobleck readjusted his glasses as he looked back up.

"Humiliated and hoping to avoid a full out war with the Kingdom, Mantle was forced to hand over all of its Faunus citizens they had 'confiscated' and allowed them into Arcadia. While the General who went AWOL was stripped of his rank and had his family's possession used as compensation for his brash actions" He looked down as a scowl crossed his face.

"But by then most of the Faunus had been relocated to Menagerie, and only a handful ever made it to the city of Arcadia"

Blake looked down as she felt sorrow for those who were denied freedom. The man looked back up as returned to the students. A loud bell rung as the man looked up and saw the time had passed by rapidly,

"It would seem that time is up, please be sure to review last weeks lecture and read chapter 11 to 19 in your textbooks for tonight's homework" And with that, the class dispersed as Jaune stared at the map for a brief moment, as he saw the land marked as Arcadia.

The large island nestled between the Kingdoms of Vacuo and Vale and shaped like a large dragon. The Kingdom that he would one day rule made him doubt himself slightly, especially when he compared himself to his ancestors and his own grandfather, all of whom were great kings in their time.

He had already heard the tales of his grandfather and knew the history of his Ancestors. But to hear them again and not as a bedtime story made him realise that he had some serious catching up to do. He looked down at his hand as he tightened it into a fist as he steeled his resolve.

For now, however, he had Combat Instructions with Glynda Goodwitch and that was a hurdle he needed to overcome.

Big time

* * *

Jaune's body slammed into the ground as he coughed slightly, Cardin stood over him as he grinned at the fallen boy. "Come on Arc, you're going to have to better than that," the boy said as Jaune stood up and wiped the spit off his mouth.

Today was another match between Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester, as the boy had lost forty-nine times previously to the boy. Jaune steeled himself as he raised his blade and charged at the boy, his sword swinging wildly as he clashed against the larger boy's Mace. But Cardin jumped back as he slammed his mace into the ground and shot a large fireball at Jaune.

Who only had seconds to block and was subsequently sent flying back. This would make its fiftieth defeat now as Jaune fell flat on his back, his aura level dropped straight into the red.

"The match is over, the winner is Cardin Winchester," Goodwitch said as Cardin boasted slightly and walked off the field. Jaune only sighed as he picked himself off the floor and cracked his back.

"Mister Arc, while I would say you have improved during your time here..." Jaune had a hopeful look on his face "But I will be blunt and say that you still have a lot to improve" and like that, his face fell.

As usual, expect Glynda Goodwitch to bring the boy back to reality.

He sighed as he nodded to the professor. "I'm well aware of that Gylndi-! I mean Miss Goodwitch!" Jaune said as he hoped that she didn't notice his slip of the tongue. Luckily she didn't hear that, or just pretended not to and turned back to the class.

"Once again students, it is important to keep an eye on your Aura levels and anticipates your opponents moves," Glynda said as she showed the Aura differences between Jaune and Cardin. With Cardin's still in the green with only a margin taken from his reserve, while Jaune was straight into the red.

"And that concludes today's lesson, be sure to keep your skills sharp and your minds open," she said as the students began to walk away.

"You did better that time Jaune," Pyrrha said as he tried to encourage the slightly crestfallen boy, who only shook his head as he placed his sword to his waist.

"Not good enough," he said as he and his team began to leave, but just as Jaune and his team were about to leave.

"Mr Arc may I have a word with you for a moment?" Glynda said as Jaune stopped at the door and turned back to his team

"I'll be right with you guys," he said as Pyrrha nodded and exited through the door. He then turned back as he met the professor in the middle of the ring.

"You wanted to see me Miss Goodwitch?" the woman nodded as she gestured for the boy to stand before her.

"Yes I did Mister Arc, I'm aware of your recent desire to get stronger" Jaune had a slightly confused look on his face.

"The headmaster told me of your rejection by Miss Schnee and your new desire to get stronger" Jaune looked shocked as the woman raised a hand. "We have been aware of your late night training session with Miss Nikos for a while now, don't forget that this school monitors all its students," this caused Jaune to gulp silently.

"Sorry about that...so what did you want to talk about with me?" he asked as the woman pressed a few buttons on her scroll.

"Can you tell me where you went wrong?" she asked as Jaune looked at the hologram that showed the fight between the two, Cardin easily dominating the young Arc as it played out in slow motion. Jaune shrugged his shoulders after looking at the screen for a brief moment.

"I-I don't know Miss Goodwitch, I didn't think - "

"Exactly Mister Arc," she interrupted the boy as she pointed to his holographic self.

"You didn't think and once again you blindly charged into battle with no plan or strategy to win" she pointed to the larger boy. "Had you taken the time to analyze your opponent you would have noticed that every time Winchester swung his mace, he leaves an opening on the side of his ribs - something any hunter would have exploited in battle," She fast-forwarded the tape.

"And here, Mister Winchesters footing his slackened that a well-placed strike to the back of his legs would have toppled him to the ground," she said as she pointed out a point where Jaune could have taken advantage of.

"And lastly here when he brings his mace over his head, his stomach is completely vulnerable, things that any hunter in training is supposed to know," she said as Jaune studied in awe, only now realising all the opportunities he had but lacked the strength to accomplish them.

He hung his head, as his fist tightened instinctively. "Is there a point to this or are you just pointing out how bad I am?" he asked as his eyes were shadowed by his hair.

"Mister Arc I'm not calling you out on your failures to ridicule them, I'm merely pointing them out so that you can improve upon them. It is a teacher responsibility to point out a student's mistakes after all." he looked back up, not seeing the scowl that was usually on her face.

But rather one that was meaningful and supportive.

"Mister Arc you were accepted into this school, not for the heritage that courses through your veins, but for the talent that Ozpin believes is buried deep inside of you" Jaune looked slightly surprised at this as the woman continued.

"I know that your parents wanted you to follow a different path, one that lacks the bloodshed and violence of a hunter. But you have taken it upon yourself to forge your own path," she looked at the boy as she adjusted her glasses.

"Ozpin see's something in you that I find hard to see every now and then, but I believe in Ozpin's decision to let you in, despite my arguments against it. And if Ozpin believes in you, then I as a teacher must have the same belief" she looked the boy in the eye as he stared at her.

"And while I'm proud of the fact that you are taking the initiative to change, it won't happen if you continue to repeat the same mistakes" she then pointed to his head as she tapped his forehead with her finger.

"So please take this advice Jaune and start using your head, it is your most powerful weapon after all, and no one can ever take that away from you." The boy looked at the grown woman as he rubbed the spot she had poked. She then turned around as he proceeded to head for the exit.

"Oh, and Jaune" he looked up as she turned back to him. "Please refrain from calling me 'Glyndie' I'm no longer your babysitter anymore," she said with a slight smirk as Jaune blushed deep red and bowed his head.

"R-right sorry ma'am," he said as the woman only chuckled and shook her head as she walked out of the arena. Leaving the boy to his thoughts, before he recollected his gear and left the arena.

* * *

Later that Night

* * *

As night began to set over Beacon and the students were all asleep in their bed, one student remained awake as he stared up at the ceiling before him, his mind wandering back to earlier that day as he thought about the day's events.

This was a habit Jaune had since he was a young boy whenever he was trouble or stuck at cross roads in the path called life. Today he had taken many steps to ensure that he stayed away from the girl that broke his heart. But every time he saw her in class, his heart ached as the memory of last night still haunted him.

Not to mention the fact that one day he would have to be King of Arcadia, a task so daunting that he feared he would lead the Kingdom to ruin and the fact that he was still weak in comparison to everyone else at Beacon, that he began to cast more doubt on himself.

He sighed as he turned his head to catch a glimpse of Pyrrha as she rested in her bed. Her long red hair cast around her like red wings as he stared at her peaceful face. He had no idea why it helped but every time he saw her face, strange warm feelings would circulate his heart and eased his worries for a brief time.

Maybe it was because she was the first one to believe in him that made him feel this way, or maybe it was her gentle nature and strong determination that made him truly feel appreciated.

Either way, it would help as he smiled slightly to the huntress in training and closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The sound of the cool breeze and the gently rippling water caused him to open his eyes as he slowly raised himself up off what appeared to be a watery floor. He also realised that he was no longer in his dorm, but instead in place that was an endless blue sky with small clouds passing over his head. He slowly stood up as he also noticed that he was no longer in his blue, bunny-eared onesie, but rather was dressed in his combat gear with his sword strapped to his waist.

"Where the heck?" he asked as he looked around the endless field of water. Greatly confused and wondered what was going on?

"Do you honestly think you can change?" surprised he spun around as he soon faced to face with Weiss as she floated above the water on a black glyph as she crossed her arms at the boy.

"Weiss? What the heck are you?" he stopped looking down he could see his own reflection as he stood atop a field of water that reflected the endless blue sky.

"Can you honestly believe that you can change yourself from the pathetic fool you are? And turn yourself into a hunter worthy of your family name?" she asked with contempt in her voice as she chuckled darkly and flipped her long white hair.

"It's pathetic really...nothing but the imagination of a desperate fool who doesn't want to disappoint his family, who doesn't want the world to blame him when he plunges his home into chaos." A large shadow moved beneath his feet as he spun around in shock only to find nothing but endless water.

"You say you want to be stronger?" the shadow moved again as he spun around again, only to see nothing.

"You say you don't want to hold them back?" the shadow moved quicker beneath the water, as Jaune's heart beat ever faster. "But how are you ever going to get stronger..." he looked down as a large shadow formed under his feet and beneath the surface of the water, as two blood red eyes split open to him.

 **"If you can't even get over me?"**

The water exploded in a geyser of white as dark hands shot from beneath the surface as their darks claws quickly wrapped around the boy. He struggled desperately against the dark embrace as they dragged him into the dark depths.

"Hey! L-Let me go!" he yelled as he struggled and swiped at the dark hands, his blade having no effect on the darkness as they dragged him slowly into the water.

His sword was then knocked out of his hand as he reached out to the Heiress "Weiss stop it!" he pleaded as he sank further into the dark water. "Weiss! Stop it please!" he yelled at the girl as she hovered above the water.

"Weiss please stop this now!" he yelled as she only glared at him, just as she did the night she broke his heart. She only glared back as he was submerged beneath the surface as the ripples subsided and the water returned to its calm visage.

"Just give up...and drown within the sea of your own incompetence," the water returned to normal as the phantom of Weiss only smirked and began to float away from the water.

Suddenly the water began to ripple rapidly as a hand burst from the watery depths causing the phantom to spin around, as Jaune clawed his way out of the darkness and glared up at the heiress. He continued to claw his way to freedom even as the darkness desperately tried to drag him back, the red eyes seemed to scream at the boy to return to its dark embrace. But he was not going to quit...not now...

"I'm not going to quit!" he said as he forced his way to the surface.

"I'm not going to hold them back anymore!" he stood upon the water as the hands tried desperately to pull him back under.

"And I will - !" he glared up as he pulled harder against the dark. "And I will - !" he glared with his body glowing with a white light as wind circulated around his form.

"I WILL GET OVER YOU!" He yelled with a mighty roar as he exploded in a massive pillar of light shooting high into the sky, the light burning away the darkness as the hands dissolved into mists of shadows.

The phantom of Weiss could only shield its eyes from the light as parts of its body began to break apart and shatter into glass fragments. In its last moments, the phantom looked back in fear as a massive image of a white knight appeared from within the pillar of light. The knight glared down at the phantom before it too dissolved into the bright light.

When the light faded Jaune fell to his knees as he breathed heavily from the strange power he had unleashed.

"That...was intense," he said as he breathed in and out. But just as he had regained his breath a small white petal landed in front of him causing ripples to cascade across the water.

He looked up to see a large white tree as small flowers bloomed on its branches as the petals circled him. He reached out to grab one, grasping it in his hand before it scattered into specks of light, he opened his hand as the last specks scattered and into the wind, as the memory of what Phantom Weiss had said still echoed in his mind as he also thought about what Glynda told him.

He grasped his fist again before looking up to the endless blue sky.

"You're wrong...I will get over you and I will get stronger...but I can't do that if I just keep making the same mistakes..." he looked up as he felt a strange sense of peace wash over him.

"It's time I took things seriously" and with that, he vanished as the great white tree stood alone within the open plain, as small petals scattered across the water

When the water had settled and there was silence in the land, an armoured figure manifested at the base of the tree and rested against the old white oak. The armoured figure lowered its head as it waited patiently for the day its master would return and claim the power he held.

"Soon my young prince...soon"

* * *

 **And the scene, well here is chapter two of the Ascension of the King, and I hope you enjoyed reading it because I got to tell you I had to alter the ending at least seven times before I found the right one.**

 **In this Chapter I wanted to show the slow progress that he is starting to take, I can't just say he's going to change and start having him become better instantly in the second chapter...that's for chapter three when I can do sometimes skipping.**

 **In this chapter, however, I wanted to show the aftermath of Weiss rejection, his new determination and how his friends would take it while also having Jaune trying to ignore Weiss and doing everything in his power to avoid her.**

 **I also wanted to show how Weiss's rejection has affected Jaune's mental state, as seen in the darkness hidden breath the surface of his normal personality. How he would no longer see her as a beautiful angel, but as a source of his self-contempt and inadequacy.**

 **And yes the knight at the base of the tree is a hint to his semblance, and seeing as though no one, other than the creators of the show, Know what his semblance is. I have decided to create one for him, hopefully, to match the defence nature that it hints to in the show.**

 **I also wanted to add a bit of history to the new Kingdom I created called Arcadia, a kingdom founded by his family and the expectation he has to live up to in comparison to his ancestors and family.**

 **And as for pairings, yes its Jaune/Pyrrha but will turn into Jaune/Harem. The harem will consist of Pyrrha, Ruby, Blake, Yang, Velvet, Coco and maybe an OC that I will introduce later in the story.** **Also, if any of you got the oobidoobi reference to Glynda being his babysitter in the past, I'm trying to work into this story, so I'm giving a shout-out to that.**

 **Stay tuned for Chapter Three and the next chapter of Rising of an Arc will be released soon, hopefully, in an accurate time yet.**

 **Masseffect-TxS out!**


	3. Chapter III: Wisdom from Exploding Lotus

RWBY: The Ascension of a King

After a rather harsh rejection from Weiss Schnee, Jaune realises that he needs to stop chasing her and become stronger. With the help of his team and that of Ruby, Yang and Blake, He will strive to become the hero he dreams to be. All the while hiding a secret that would rock the world of RWBY.

 **I'm really sorry for how late this chapter is, but people do remember that I have a life to live and there is a lot of shit going on at the moment, so don't fret when I don't update. I will get to the story when I get to it. So please enjoy this chapter and leave a review at the end.**

* * *

Chapter III: Wisdom from Exploding Lotus

* * *

Jaune Arc liked to think of himself as an average sort of person. He had an average sort of life, with an average amount of friends. Heck, even his family would be considered somewhat average in comparison...

Except for the fact that his family was practically royalty and that he is heir to an entirely new continent, whose technology, economy and military prowess far surpassed anything that Atlas could ever produce, but refused to use them less the situation called for it. And for the fact they had a long line of Kings and Queens that have governed and ruled over their people for the last two hundred and eighteen years or so...

Yeah, when you hear all that out loud you'd never think it would apply to someone like Jaune Arc right?

Well, the sad thing is that he had grown used to it ever since he was a child, constantly looking up to the legacy that his family had created. The many amazing things they had done for not only their people but for the world in general.

Which often left Jaune to wonder, what he would leave behind? Granted he wasn't a King yet. But still, he always wondered what his legacy would be? This was a thought that had plagued him since he was ten years old when he would hear the whispers of foreign dignitaries and politicians that visited his Kingdom.

Saying that he was weak in comparison to the current King, his father and the previous King his grandfather, renown as history's strongest human alive. And as you can imagine, this was not something a child that age ever wanted to hear. And for a time he had begun to believe the words they whispered...

But for some reason that he could never understand, he wanted to defy what they said about him and prove that he could be just as great as his ancestors. The only problem he faced was how? How could he prove to them that he could be the King that he was born to be?

His answer came in the most unlikely form when a representative of the Schnee Corporation visited Arcadia to arrange a new trade arrangement with the Kingdom, a person named Winter something or rather? He never really did get her full name. But he had overheard her talking with his elder sister before the arrangements, about how her younger sister was attending Beacon Academy, one of the most prestigious Huntsman Academies in the world.

For some bizarre reason, that he couldn't understand, he thought that if he could get into Beacon and graduate with flying colours then he would be finally able to prove himself as a worthy King.

Now he could have just easily applied to Vigil Academy in Arcadia. But he was afraid that they would give him special treatment because of his royal heritage, or notified his parents and would have removed him instantly from the Academy.

So he packed his bags, got a hold of some fake transcripts, hopped on the next dust plane to Vale where hopefully no one would know of his royal birth and set forth to begin his adventure at Beacon Academy...and then instantly regretted it after the first five minutes.

From the moment he arrived his life had been a constant flow of 'What The Fuck Moments' with no sign of stopping anytime soon.'

Somehow in one day, he had more on his plate than he could ever possibly handle in his entire life.

He Vomited on the airship, and subsequently Yang's shoes, before being flung into the forest and then pinned to a tree by his future partner and fighting against a large ancient Deathstalker.

He was then the leader of his own with no prior combat experience, no prior training, no actual leadership skills as he had basically lied his way in without even giving it a second consideration to the consequence that he could potentially face.

Not to also mention doing poorly in classes both physically and academically while also getting blackmailed by your own bully in the first semester. Yet the worst part was that the girl he had a crush on basically called you out as a weakling and told him to basically just give up being a hunter!

...Yeah, he realised how much he screwed up.

He was just thankful he had a partner like Pyrrha the kindest and most understanding person he had ever met since he arrived at Beacon.

Sure there was Ruby who he met first, but Pyrrha had been there for him more than anyone else. She picked him up when he fell down, comforted him when he was insecure about himself and made him feel like he could be the hero and King he dreamed of being...

And that made him feel immensely guilty.

Here was a girl that was so caring and so thoughtful that she was willing to sacrifice her own time and effort in order to get him up to scratch, a person who always considered the well-being of others rather than her own.

And what was he? Some kid who faked his way in so that he could be a hero and be something that he was not. He wanted to prove to everyone so badly that he wasn't weak, that he didn't think of the consequences of his actions. And now because of it, he was up against the creek without a paddle...

Or the boat for that matter.

But that was in the past and Jaune had to keep his head straight for the future. Now he had to continue his training, get stronger and become a better leader, not only his friends but for the Kingdom that would be one day his to rule.

Which is where we find Jaune now as he practised in the combat arena, against one of the mechanical combat droids, while Pyrrha watched from above, her keen eyesight observing her partner as he fought against the mechanical foe.

Jaune ducked under the large mace, as the machine expertly swung a weapon similar to Cardin's as the machine swung the large object at the boy. Jaune rolled to the side as he slashed at the droids side, only for the droid to sidestep the boy and batted him away with the large mace. He tumbled for a brief moment before he stopped and struggled to stand as he glared up at the mechanical android.

He glanced down at his scroll as he noticed his aura had already dropped into the yellow zone, another hit and his aura would be completely depleted.

Despite this he charged again as he raised his shield to block the incoming attack, the mace slammed into the shield as the boy dropped to his knee and grit his teeth in pain as he struggled to hold back the androids mace. But then he smirked as he quickly used this chance to stab his sword into the android's chest as the robots singular eye flashed red and shut down.

The lights turned back on as Jaune stood up and sheathed his weapons; just as Pyrrha came down to greet him. "Well done Jaune, you managed to beat the training droid, that's very impressive after three weeks of training," she complimented as he smiled and looked at the droid.

"Thanks, but it took me three weeks to beat this thing on easy, who knows how much longer on the next set? ...I feel like I'm just wasting your time," Pyrrha placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as she shook her head.

"You're not wasting my time Jaune, I'm your partner and one of my jobs is to help you. But not only that you're my friend and I care for you deeply..." she then blushed as she realised what she just said.

"I-I mean as a friend you know? N-not like that deep! I-I mean deep! But not that deep you know! Like-!" she sighed as she looked at her partner's confused face.

"You know what I mean?"

"I think I know what you meant?" he said, as he still couldn't recognise the red head's feelings for him, another case of the protagonist oblivious affect. Taking refuge in that, she placed a gentle hand on his chest.

"The point is you will get stronger Jaune, but it won't just happen overnight, it takes years of training and practice before anyone gets stronger. It took years before I even entered the Mistral Tournament and won my first match. Besides I'm going easy on you, you do not want to go through the same training my parents put me through...you'd be dead in an instant" she said as Jaune chuckled as well.

"I know, and thanks, Pyrrha, but I still feel guilty that you're spending all of your time helping me instead of training yourself?" he said as the girl shook her head.

"Trust me, I'm more than happy to help you Jaune...plus it allows me to spend more time with you" she whispered the last part as Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"What was that?" she blushed deep red as she realised she said that out loud, next to her crush.

"Nothing!" she fidgeted as she started to play with a strand of her long red hair. Jaune however just ignored it as he gestured to the door.

"Oh, ok...Well come on or we'll be late for Professor Goodwitch's class" he said as the girl nodded and walked alongside her partner as they headed off to class.

It had been three weeks since Jaune had his heart broken by Weiss and begun his training to be a better hunter. In that time, thanks to Pyrrha's guidance, he was able to improve his swordsmanship and learned how to counter at the right time.

Unfortunately, he was still prone to charging headfirst and taking heavy hits before winning against a simulation droid, even though the droid was set on easy mode.

He also still could not win a match against any other student, especially between himself and Cardin Winchester, a personal goal of his to actually beat the boy in combat. He felt that if he could at least beat Cardin once in a fair fight, it would prove to himself that he was getting better. Unfortunately, the score was fifty wins to Cardin and zero wins for Jaune.

However, he was determined not to give up until he could beat him at least once, thus proving to himself that he was getting stronger, that he was becoming a better hunter and worthy of the title that was his birthright.

King of Arcadia

But for now, however, he had to continue his training under Pyrrha's guidance and at least beat Cardin. And that was not happening anytime soon.

Which is exactly what Jaune thought as he was thrown from the ring and slammed into the ground. "Ouch," he said as he slowly got back up, just in time to see Cardin charging at him with his mace. He quickly rolled out of the way as he tried to slash at the boys back, but sadly the boy missed as Cardin quickly spun around and swung his mace at Jaune.

It was the last class of the day and once again Jaune was pitted against his longtime bully in Goodwitch's combat class. Who had only mere seconds to raise his shield as he was thrown again over the field as he tumbled across the ground until he reached just at the edge of the ring, his foot dangling slightly off the edge as he got back up and readied his sword.

"You're lasting longer than usual Jauney-boy. Normally by now you'd be down for the count and I'd have won by now," he said as Jaune just glared and raised his shield to guard himself.

"What can I say? I just might be getting better!" he yelled as he quickly rushed to the taller boy and swung his sword left and right as Cardin dodged each and every one of them.

He did manage to get a few cuts into the boy's aura, but was quickly overwhelmed by the boy's much larger size as he knocked his shield back with a large explosion, and then head-butted him in the face and sent him flying across the arena with one knock to the chest.

"Hmm, still not good enough,"

Jaune slammed into the wall as a loud siren blared out and the arena once again bathed in light. Two aura indicators revealed that Jaune's Aura had entered the red zone, while Cardin's was just entering the yellow.

"That's enough for today class, once again Mister Winchester is the winner by using both his size and his weapon to his advantage," Goodwitch said as the tall boy grinned at this while Jaune hung his head.

"However, Mister Arc was able to get Winchester Aura down into the yellow zone...just barely, by using his smaller size and speed to his advantage...and actually using his head for once," She said as Jaune had a slight look of hope in his eyes.

"In the end students, it all comes down to how you use your advantages that decide who wins. Class, you are dismissed" she said as the students began to leave while Jaune picked himself up from the wall.

"I thought I had him that time," he said as his former babysitter only shook her head. "Clearly I still have a long way to go," he said as she nodded her head.

"While I will admit that you are getting better at this Jaune and actually using your head more thanks to Miss Nikos' Guidance no doubt, you still have much you need to improve on," she said as he went over the last match.

"For starters, you need to increase the amount of power you put into your strikes, as well as learning how to effectively use your Aura during the right circumstances. So far you still using too much aura during your fight, that it leaves you in a weakened state, I'd recommend learning how to properly channel your aura without overspending your reserves. How you will achieve this will be up to you." She said as he closed her scroll and walked away from the boy.

"But I will note that your footwork is rather impressive now, despite the short amount of time you and Miss Nikos have been training. I can only assume it is because of the dance lessons your parents gave you?" she asked as Jaune blushed as he chuckled nervously at this.

"Um...well...yeah, I'd just figure I'd mix some of the dance moves with my footing. Pyrrha was the one who actually suggested it. Although she seemed to be giggling to herself when she learned I could dance and her face was red, not sure why?" he said as the woman chuckled softly as she walked away from the prince.

"Keep up the good work Mister Arc, and get yourself patched up. Can't have one of my students walking around with his injuries bare to see" she said as she left the arena as Jaune watched his former babysitter leave him alone before he decided to meet up with the rest of his team.

"HOWDY FEARLESS LEADER!" Nora yelled in glee as she jumped onto Ren's back, who didn't even flinched at the sudden extra weight on his back, as he had grown accustomed to it after living with the sporadic girl for so many years.

"What was the holdup?" Ren asked as the boy only shrugged his shoulders.

"Professor Goodwitch just wanted to talk to me about my performance during the last match, she told me that I still needed to improve on certain things, nothing any different from the last few times she told me," he said as he scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"You did better this time, you got Cardin's aura down into the yellow. Before you could barely get it down a fraction, it shows how much you've improved." Pyrrha said as Jaune nodded slightly at this.

"Yeah, but he still mopped the floor with me. I think he still has it out for me, despite the fact I saved his life two months ago" he said as he rubbed the spot on his chest from where Cardin swung his mace at him, his aura healing him as best as it could with the amount that was left in his system.

"I wouldn't worry about him so much Jaune, people like Cardin don't change that easily," she said as Jaune nodded.

"Yeah I guess you're right, anyway lets back tot he dorm room. I need to make sure Cardin didn't do too much damage to my face, it's all I really have" he said as the rest of his team chuckled and walked back to their dorm room. All while Jaune was deep in thought as he went over his fight with Cardin.

He was able to get his footing better and he was starting analysing his opponent's movements, in order to anticipate oncoming attacks that were why he was able to bring Cardin's aura down into the yellow. But despite now seeing where he could strike, he was still stuck with the problem of applying more strength in his strikes and how to properly channel his aura.

While Pyrrha was able to help him analyse his opponent, she was still unable to help him properly channel his aura. Because he had more aura than her own he had more difficulty learning how to control and channel the energy inside his body. This often left him using too much of his energy that when he was struck, large amounts of his aura would be expended trying to defend him.

Which of course left him defenceless against his opponent, most of the time against Cardin. And unfortunately, Pyrrha was not that skilled in aura to teach him how to properly channel his massive reserves, seeing as hers were smaller in comparison to his.

So now they had to find someone who could help Jaune properly channel and control his Aura. But whom could they possibly ask? Who could teach him how to channel large amounts of Aura without overspending his own?

Who?

* * *

Later in Team JNPR's Room

* * *

"Ow!" Jaune said as Pyrrha dabbed the small cut under his eye with disinfectant.

"Sorry," she said as she continued to dabble at the small bruise with the small cotton ball soaked in disinfectant. "Cardin really did a number on you this time," she said as she continued to treat her partner.

"Yeah he did, I swear I could hear my bones rattle with that last attack," he said as he sat on his bed while Pyrrha applied medical attention to his face.

"I say we break his legs!" Nora said as she sat across from them as she chuckled manically in glee at the prospect of crippling the bully of her friend.

"Nora you can't go and break his legs...no matter how much he deserves it," Ren said as he sat on his green bean bag reading one of his favourite books.

"Besides Jaune wouldn't allow it anyway, being the nice guy that he is," he said as he flipped a page while Jaune nodded at this. Nora, however, crossed her arms as she huffed at her none violent teammates.

"Hmm! I still think he deserves a good leg breaking, don't you agree Pyr-Pyr? Nora said as said girl only chuckled nervously in response.

"See! She agrees!" Nora said as she jumped on her bed. "Come on! One little leg break won't put him out of action long...maybe a month or two, but he'll live...maybe?" she said as all three shook their heads.

"You guys are no fun,"

She sat back down on her bed and crossed her arms in annoyance. Before she placed her soundproof headphones on and hummed at the loud metal music blasting into her ears. Ren only rolled his eyes as he continued to read his book, 'How to deal with your hyperactive roommate's Volume III' only making subtle glance back to his other two teammates as they conversed amongst themselves.

"I just don't get it, I'm doing everything you taught me but I just can't seem to beat him. What am I doing wrong?" he focused on his hand as if he was willing something to happen.

"I don't know Jaune, maybe it's something we're overlooking?" Pyrrha said as Jaune shook his head.

"But I'm following everything you've taught me and I can get his aura down to yellow. But at the last minute, it's like all my attacks are useless against him...how come I keep failing?" Pyrrha sighed and placed her hand under chin, putting herself in a state of deep concentration.

"I don't know Jaune, but I promise you we will figure this out, just be patient," she said as she placed a small comforting hand on his, as she briefly relished in the feeling of warmth in his larger hands. Jaune looked up at his partner as a soft smile adorned his face as he, unknowingly, squeezed her hand back gently.

"Thank you Pyrrha...that means a lot to me," he said as they shared a brief smile.

"I can help you beat him," Jaune and Pyrrha turned to the most reserved member of their team as he continued to read from his book.

"What?" Jaune asked the boy.

"I said I could help you beat him, I've watched your matches enough to know what you're doing wrong," he said as Jaune's eyes sparkled at this.

"You do? What is it?" he asked as the boy set his book down.

"I've noticed it for a while now and it's become clear what the problem is. While it is true that Pyrrha has been able to help you analyse your opponent better, you still lack the basic control to properly utilise your aura. You keep using it in large doses that it completely drains you of your energy. If this keeps up, you'll never be able to beat him no matter how much you try" Ren said as Jaune lowered his head. Pyrrha noticed this as she turned to face Ren.

"Ren that was kind of mean, Jaune has been trying his very best to get better and I've been doing everything I can to help. I'm sure Jaune's just hitting a speed bump that he'll eventually overcome-" Pyrrha tried to defend him until Ren raised his hand.

"I didn't mean it to be harsh and I know Jaune will get over it soon enough, but what I'm trying to say is that he needs someone who knows when to use their aura and how much of it, they need to use. He needs someone who can teach him to focus" the boy said as Jaune and Pyrrha stared at him in awe before Jaune finally spoke.

"You think can help me control my aura?" he said as the boy smiled and simply said...

"No, but Nora can"

The pair turned to the left as they watched Nora pretending to play on an air guitar as she screamed out the lyrics for the DustTube video 'Batmetal'. Jaune and Pyrrha stared in stunned silence as the turned back to the stoic look of their teammate.

"You-you're joking right?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" he said with a deadpan look as Jaune stared in confusion.

"I honestly can't tell..."

"Ren, don't you think Nora is a little too...energetic...to teach Jaune? I mean she is not the most focused person to teach him or anyone how to control aura" they looked over as Nora somehow got a hold of her hammer and strummed it like a guitar before smashing it into one of the desks, Jaune's to be specific.

"My desk!" Jaune yelled, as Nora still couldn't hear him and continued to play Magnhild like an electric guitar.

"You would think so, but have any of you ever noticed that she rarely lets her aura levels drop down below Seventy-Five percent in any of her matches, aside from yours Pyrrha?" the pair stopped as they realised that the boy was correct.

During all of her matches they had noticed her aura levels never really dropped below the yellow margin with the only time it did was when she faced Pyrrha and that left both girls exhausted afterwards that Goodwitch decided to call the match a draw.

"As you know Nora has the ability to absorb electricity and use it to enhance her body. This means to do so she needs to have large amounts of aura, and to be able to harness that power and balance it with her aura takes a lot of skill and control. But despite her over active personality, Nora has more control over her aura then anyone else on our team, even more than me when I'm not using my semblance. Nora is a continuous ball of energy, so much so that she had to learn to control it since we were young" he laced his fingers as he stared at the two.

"You said you wanted to become a better leader and be a stronger member of this team, correct?" Jaune nodded at this as Ren smiled.

"Well like it or not Nora is probably the only one that can help you control your aura and learn how to strike with efficient force to deal enough damage to beat Cardin. I can't promise that you'll beat him tomorrow and I can only help you meditate and hone your focus. But the reality is that Nora is the only one that can help you control it...the question is do you trust her?"

Jaune looked at Nora as she continued to bob her head to the music and then to his partner, as she seemed concerned and conflicted about the proposal. They both knew Nora could get a little out of hand when she was her usual hyperactive self.

But Jaune was determined to get stronger, he was determined to make himself a better leader not only for himself but for the rest of his team, even if that meant he had to get help from each and every one of them.

"Yes...I do trust her"

"Great!" Jaune and Pyrrha jumped as Nora appeared between the two, a bright smile on her face as she wrapped her arm around her friend's neck. "I'm so glad you trust me oh fearless leader! We'll start our training right away!" she said as Jaune stared at her.

"...Have you been listening to us the whole time?" a quick nod from the girl confirmed it as she zipped away for a split second and returned dressed in her gym gear.

"Let's get started right away!" she said as she began to run in one spot.

"Nora, it's late and Pyrrha has him for training now," The girl stopped and looked at the clock on the wall.

"...First thing in the morning then!" she said as she pointed at his face. "Emerald Forest! By the Cliff! The crack of dawn! Be there or be square!" and with that, she jumped into the air did a quick summersault before landing on her bed face first on the mattress.

Jaune and Pyrrha stared in stunned silence before loud snores sounded from the bed as Nora had fallen straight to sleep. The turned to Ren who only chuckled at the pair and continued to read his book, ignoring the loud snores that came from his partner.

The two shared one last glance before they slowly exited the room, careful not to wake the sleeping orange mass as the slowly closed the door behind them. The door closed with a soft click as Ren watched from the comfort of his bean bag as he chuckled softly.

"Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day," the magenta-streaked boy said as he turned another page and slowly drowned out the noise of his partner.

* * *

Next Morning, Emerald Forest Cliffs

* * *

The sun began to crack over the edge of the forest as the sounds of birds and small critters echoed amongst the green foliage of the forest...

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!" followed by a long exasperated sound of an orange-haired mass, as Nora groaned on the back of her best friend.

"Ren~! Why are we out here at the crack of dawn~!" Nora said as she tried to go back to sleep on his back as he carried her to the cliffs.

"You told Jaune to get up at the crack of dawn to help him control his aura. And that meant we all have to get up" he said as Nora groaned once again and flopped around on his back, not even losing her balance or falling off.

Jaune followed behind in stunned silence as he could only stare at the pair before him. He had woken up at the crack of dawn like Nora had told him to, only to discover that she was still fast asleep with no intentions of getting up.

Luckily Ren was already up as he managed to get her up and ready for their training day.

He opted to let Pyrrha sleep in on an account it was a Saturday and he didn't want to wake her up. She had been training with him none stop for the past three weeks and he felt she needed a day off. Although for some reason he could have sworn he heard her mumble his name in her sleep with a blush on her cheeks.

Strange huh?

"Ok, here we are," Ren said as he dropped Nora on the ground as she instantly shot up like she had just ingested a large amount of caffeine. It was amazing how she was able to switch from one personality to another in a matter of seconds.

"Ok, Jaune! Are ready to receive the awesome super secret training method to help you control your aura!?" she said as Jaune nodded but was compelled to ask.

"Um Nora, how are you going to teach me how to control my aura?" Jaune asked as the bubbly girl smiled and turned to him and said...

"It's simple, I don't..." silence blanketed the cliff as Jaune stared at the orange-haired girl in confusion.

"What?"

"I don't, I don't teach you"

"W-what does that mean? You said you could help me control my aura? How are you suppose to help me if you don't teach me? That doesn't make any sense!" Nora smiled as she shook her head.

"Jaune I said I can help you control your aura, I can't teach you how to control it, no one can teach you it's your aura silly" she looked out over the cliff as the morning sun began to rise over the mountains.

"What you need to understand is that aura is a part of you, it is the very essence of your soul and the source of your power. It reflects who you are as a person and what makes you special" she spread her arms out as she relished in the cool breeze.

"When I use my aura I feel like I'm free of everything, that nothing can hold me back and that I have the power to do it. You can't teach someone how to control something that's a part of you; you need to learn how to do it yourself. Sure you can get tips and pointers on how, but at the end of the day you need to learn to do it yourself...do you get it?"

Jaune looked at her as he looked down at his hand as he remembered the white light that had shimmered off his body back at the Forever Falls Forest. And he realised that she was right, no one could teach you how to control something that's a part of yourself, you need to learn how to control it yourself.

Otherwise, you're not learning more about you, you're learning about someone else.

"Yeah...I think I get it...but how do I find learn more about myself?" Nora smiled as she smacked a hand on her stomach and smiled.

"You follow your gut, cause it is the one thing that will never let you down"

Jaune stared at her before turning to Ren who nodded in turn. Jaune then smiled as he realised how lucky he was to have friends like them. It made him more determined to be the best leader he could be, for the best team he knew they could be.

"Ok, What do I have to do?" he said with fire in his eyes as the young Valkyrie looked at him with a bright warm smiled and said...

"I'm going to throw this sack full of wrenches at you" followed by a large sack of wrenches falling down next to her from Monty knows where.

"...Eh?"

"So from what you told us of your experience at the Forever Forest I figure you might have a defence type of aura," she said as she casually pulled out a large wrench from the sack.

"So I figured the best way to find out if that's true or not, is to throw these wrenches at you and see if it works or not. If I'm right your aura well protect you from these wrenches and you'll be one step closer to controlling your aura, cool right?" Jaune stared in complete and utter horror as he looked at her and the large sack of wrenches next to her.

He quickly swapped his gaze to Ren, who was doing his best not to look at him in case he burst out laughing. He then turned back to Nora as a cold sweat began to build upon his forehead.

"Y-you can't be serious, right Nora?" He hoped and prayed that this was just an elaborate prank made by the orange haired girl.

This was quickly dashed away as a wrench went sailing past his head and snapped a tree behind him in two. He slowly turned his head to the destroyed tree before shifting it back to Nora as she held a rather wickedly sweet smile on her face as she held another wrench in her hand.

"Nope, I'm very serious oh fearless leader" Jaune had only one last opportunity to look back to Ren as the boy could only mouth out one thing.

"Run"

* * *

Meanwhile at Team RWBY's Room

* * *

Silver eyes slowly opened as Ruby Rose awoke to a strange sound coming from outside her room. The only reason no one else in her room heard it was because Weiss and Blake wore earplugs from the air horn incident and she had grown accustomed to her sisters snoring, who incidentally could sleep through a bomb landing in their room.

But this sound was different as she slowly slid down her makeshift bunk bed and walked towards the windows, slowly rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" "Get back here!" a familiar high-pitched scream followed by another familiar voice met her ears as she looked to the large windows of their dorm.

"Jaune? Nora?" her curiosity mumbled as she walked over to the window and tried to find the source of the noise. She then stared in disbelief as she watched a scared Jaune being chased by a mad cackling Nora as she threw wrench after wrench with freighting speed and strength around the courtyard.

"If you can dodge a wrench! You can control your aura!"

"What does that even mean!"

Ruby just stared at her first friend being chased around the courtyard by his teammate and decided to do the only logical thing anyone would in this situation...

"...I'm going back to bed..."

* * *

 **And Scene, Well sorry for the long wait but finally here is Chapter III. Prince Jaune's journey to become the King is filled with more peril than he expected and just another example of the WTF moments that run his life.  
**

 **I'm so sorry for the long wait I was stuck on this chapter and where I should go with it, and a lot of stuff has been happening with my life at the moment so I hope you can all understand why it takes me a while to upload new chapters. I have not abandoned my stories and hopefully, the next chapter will go a bit a smoother.**

 **Stay tuned for more of my stories, and hopefully, I will have updated The Remnant Knight soon.  
**

 **Stay tuned for Chapter IV – Gun's 'n' Roses**


	4. Chapter IV: Guns 'n' Roses

RWBY: The Ascension of a King

After a rather harsh rejection from Weiss Schnee, Jaune realises that he needs to stop chasing her and become stronger. With the help of his team and that of Ruby, Yang and Blake, He will strive to become the hero he dreams to be. All the while hiding a secret that would rock the world of RWBY.

 **Author's important notice, I have decided to change some history in chapter II. Because after watching Vol. 3 and World of Remnant, I'm beginning to believe that there is more going on in Atlas that could warrant them as having more hostility to Arcadia, as they force their students into military regiments.**

 **So Vacuo will now be an ally like Vale but will have animosity towards Atlas. Just as a heads up for the edit in Chapter II. Please enjoy this chapter and be sure to re-read the second before this one.**

* * *

Chapter IV: Guns 'n' Roses

* * *

A month had passed since Jaune had begun his training to improve himself and become a better leader and king. So far he was starting to get some results thanks to his teammates.

Thanks to Pyrrha he was now able to anticipate his opponent's moves and form a proper counter-attack as well as being able to use his shield and sword with better precision.

Ren helped Jaune improve his flexibility by including stretches and a rigorous training program that Ren frequently practised. While the first week hurt like hell, his body was eventually able to overcome this trial and he was now slightly more flexible than what he used to be.

And believe it or not, Nora's training method had _actually_ managed to produce some results, surprising both Jaune Pyrrha.

It turns out that thanks to the numerous amounts of times Nora had assaulted Jaune with wrenches - something that nearly gave Pyrrha a heart attack when she found out - had forced Jaune to learn how to moderate his aura better. He learned that if he used too much it would drain his reserves too quickly, and if he used too little it weakened his barrier and the wrenches would punch right through.

He had enough bruises to back up his theory

Yet after many attempts, and near misses on his life, Jaune was now finally able to gain better control over his aura. Not enough to make him a master or anything, but enough that he could almost be considered an equal on his team.

Yet despite the amount of training - and sacks of wrenches that were thrown at him - he still could not awaken his semblance. His friends tried everything they knew about semblance's that could help him awaken his. They tried meditation, concentration and even combat simulations to help him awaken his power by force. Let's just say that last one involved Nora and more wrenches...

Enough said...

Yet no matter what he tried he still could not find his semblance, which was frustrating him to the limit. It was if there was something inside him blocking him from accessing his power, something that he needed to confront in order to awaken it. But regardless of his lack of semblance, his progress more than made up for it.

Currently, he was in a team building exercise with his friends, which Jaune had come up with himself in order to make themselves a more efficient team.

You see, after a month of training and practice, Ozpin had announced that in two months time the Vytal Festival would be coming to Vale. The Vytal Festival was a tournament that celebrated the end of the Great War and allowed students from every corner of the world to participate and test their skills. And as an example he showed footage of the last tournament in Mistral, to give the students an idea of what they would be facing.

The first thing that Jaune noticed was that the preliminary rounds had team-based matches. He watched as teams worked together, fought together and even lost together as the other team went on to the doubles rounds.

It was then that Jaune realised that despite his own growth, he was still forsaking his growth as both a leader and a teammate.

He had spent so much time get better he had completely forgotten to improve his own teamwork. Yes, his team was strong thanks to Pyrrha and the others, and he could direct them and lead them when the situation called for it. But when compared to some of the older students or their sister team RWBY, they were seriously lacking in the teamwork department outside of life-threatening situations.

So it was then that he decided that if was going to be a better leader than he needed to start acting like one. And after getting some advice from Miss Goodwitch, he learned that he needed to start doing some proper team building exercises, one that didn't involve a boring game about farming.

...Seriously what was he thinking?

So, after talking with his team, they decided to use one of the outdoor training grounds on the weekend to practice some team exercises.

The first thing Jaune suggested was to get a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. And to start off they decided to have a quick sparring session between his teammates.

The first round was against himself and Pyrrha. For the first half of the match, Jaune and Pyrrha had clashed blades against blades, and shield against shield with Jaune using everything she had taught him. But while Jaune had managed to improve his swordsmanship in under a month, the match went to Pyrrha when she converted her sword into its rifle form and dropped his aura into the yellow.

The second match was between Jaune and Ren while Nora and Pyrrha had their match. For a while, Jaune had managed to shield himself from Ren's constant barrage of bullets but lost after the boy made use of his speed and agility. Then the final match between was Ren and Pyrrha with himself against Nora...

Let's just say it ended with a... _bang_...a big one at that.

Yet despite getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter; Jaune had used this experience to learn a bit more about his teammates and how he could use their skills in combat, and help them with some of their weaknesses.

Ren's agility and use of semi-automatic weapons made him a perfect fit for a frontline runner, someone who could speed across the battlefield and draw attention away from the others. But he had low stamina and extended times tended to tire him out. So the pair decided to work on improving stamina.

Pyrrha with her unique semblance would manipulate the enemy weapons, seeing as most of which would be made of metal. But Jaune had raised the question of someone using unorthodox weapons, something that made the young champion pause for thought. Which was why the pair now often fought using wooden weapons and no armour.

And finally, Nora, the obvious heavy hitter of the group with the ability to enhance her strength with electricity, could deliver the final blow that would ensure them victory. But despite having more control over her aura, her concentration tended to waver when she was in the heat of battle. Something they decided to work on.

He then started to write down ideas of team-based combo moves in his journal, based on the teammate and the abilities they brought into the field. Ren was the runner; Pyrrha was the duelist, Nora the powerhouse and he was the shield...

He had long ago realised that despite his best efforts, he would take much longer to be on the same level as his friends and at most would only serve as a shield for them. Drawing the enemy to him, taking the damage and buying the others time to either regroup or escape.

Strangely enough, he found acceptance in that role. For as long as he was a part of the team, and was contributing to their survival, he didn't care what happened to him. Besides according to Arcadian tradition, the King of Arcadia must be prepared to sacrifice himself to ensure the survival of his kingdom...

For a Kingdom without its King is lost...but a Kingdom without his people is nothing...

So Jaune accepted his role as the shield to his team and swore that nothing would ever drive them apart. But during all three matches with his team, and the many combinations that he had theorised in his analysis, Jaune had just realised something that also singled him out in the group.

He was still the only one without a gun...out of everyone in the school.

In all three matches, his teammates had some kind of firearm that allowed them to attack him from a distance. Ren had his submachine guns, Pyrrha had her rifle and Nora had her grenade launcher. Or as she liked to call it, her 'negotiator' - something that Jaune slightly shivered at that.

And while a shield was good at blocking projectiles and enemy weapons, a sword was limited to close quarter combat and was useless in a battle of distance. But if he were to have a gun, it would give him a slight advantage over his opponent. He could hide behind his shield; use the firearm to keep his enemies at bay while also providing fire support for his friends when needed.

"So that's why I think I should get a gun..." Jaune said as he stood in front of his team in their dorm room.

Ren, Nora and Pyrrha looked at the boy and then each other as they sent concerned glance towards each other. "Jaune, are you sure that's a good idea? I mean you just started getting better at fighting, don't you think it's a bit soon to get a firearm?" Pyrrha asked as the secret prince shook his head.

"Pyrrha out of everyone in the team, heck even the _whole school_ , I am the only one that doesn't have a firearm. Ruby's team has several firearms and all I have is a sword and shield," he said as he held up Crocea.

"That's now true Jaune, Cardin doesn't have a firearm?" Jaune shook his head.

"Yes, but he has a Dust Crystal in his Mace that shoots fire, that gives him the advantage of distance - and in case you have forgotten I'm not good at using dust...remember what happen last time?" all four of them shuddered at the verbal lashing they got from Goodwitch when they accidently blew up the dust labs.

The horror...The Lecture...the Glare!

"I just think that maybe if I had a firearm I'd have a little more diversity in my arsenal. It might even give me an edge in combat, even if it's like a last resort kind of weapon?" he said as Pyrrha looked slightly concerned at this.

"He does have a point," Ren said as they all turned to him.

"Jaune is the only one of us that doesn't have any ranged weapon, especially in this day and age where distance is vital to our survival. What were to happen if he loses his weapons or if we aren't there to help him against someone who did? He would be in serious trouble and we would blame ourselves for it," he said as Pyrrha looked hesitant before sighing.

"I guess you are right, it's just that I'm worried you might be trying to do these things to quickly. Strength doesn't come from rushing things Jaune, they take time and patience, and I don't want you to hurt yourself thinking you need to get better. I care about you-!"

She instantly blushed red as she realised what she just said, "I-I mean we! We care about you! Us! All of us! I mean! I mean!" she started to babble while Ren and Nora gave her a deadpan look. Jaune, however, reacted differently as for some reason he felt something different as he watched his partner's blush and stammer.

Did he just find her stammer...cute?

"I-I think I know what you mean," he said as he smiled, while Ren and Nora sent quizzing looks to each other.

"Well anyway," Jaune said as he stood up, "I think we should go into town tomorrow and help me get a firearm. And while we are there maybe I might get some new armour? I think it's about time I change out of...these?" He said as pointed at his chest plate. his team nodded as they got up.

"That sounds like a grand idea Jaune," she said as Jaune smiled at the support he got from his team.

* * *

Next Day – City of Vale – Market District

* * *

The city streets were bustling with life as shop keeps and stores were setting up for the influx of foreigners that would soon be passing their streets. Large banners and discount signs marked various stores as Team JNPR walked down the market district.

"It's getting really crowded around here lately, huh?" Jaune said as he brushed past another foreign visitor.

"Well it's too be expected Jaune, the Vytal Festival is one of Remnant's most celebrated and televised event. It allowed the Academies of each Kingdom to show what each of them has to offer," Pyrrha said as she walked beside him.

"Plus the large influx of foreigners helps boost the economy with visitors looking to buy items they can't get anywhere else," Ren said as he looked around the streets, also being careful to look out for Nora as she zipped between every stall that crossed their paths.

"OH! Look at that! No wait look at that! Ooh! Ooh! No, that one!" Nora said as she awed herself at every stall.

"Nora!" she turned her head as she saw a disgruntled Ren glare at her. To which she just chuckled and made her way over to him.

"Sorry Renny," the boy only sighed and patted her on the head.

"So~, any of you guys know where I can get a weapon?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha looked around before she pointed.

"There's one," she said as she pointed to a large building with a large window displaying various hunting equipment such as Broadswords and Armours, with a symbol of a Knights helmet and the words Ironworks branded on the bottom of the sign.

The four walked into the shop as they marvelled at the many weapons and armours that littered the walls and shelves of the store. Broadswords, Claymore's and hatchets lined one section of the store, with a large catalogue located directly under them.

"Whoa..."Jaune said as he looked around the store.

"This is pretty impressive," Pyrrha said as she inspected one of the shields near her. "The craft is almost as good as what they have in Mistral," she said as she ran a hand over the metal.

Ren looked at some of the swords and katanas near him as he looked down at his own weapons, "Hmm..." he said as he started to have some ideas.

Meanwhile, Nora as over near the hammer section as she was staring wide-eyed at some of the upgrades she could get for her hammer. "Nice," she said as she looked over the catalogues.

The four then spent the next half hour looking for the many firearms that would possibly be a good match for Jaune. They immediately ruled out heavy weapons like a heavy machine-gun and grenade launcher, as he did not have the necessary strength to wield either. The first thing they wanted to try was a full-automatic assault rifle. But Pyrrha argued that it would be too large for him to use his shield and the recoil would throw him off balance.

They then tried a shotgun but when they tried it out at the firing range, the recoil sent him back to three feet, which Nora just laughed at him, while Pyrrha fretted constantly at his well being.

They then tried some of the rifles to see if that had a better effect. And while Jaune could handle the recoil better, he had problems balancing his shield and the rifle at the same time. With practice, he could be able to master it, but time was something that was against him if he wanted to be ready for the Vytal Festival.

As for the submachine guns...well...let's just say everyone had to duck when the trigger was pulled.

"Maybe we are overthinking this," Jaune said as he looked over the guns. "It's apparent I can't use any of the larger weapons, and there is no way I could master one of them in time for the tournament." He said as he picked up one of the rifles and shook his head. "I just need to find something I can use in case of an emergency..." he looked around as he turned a corner.

"Well let's start looking in the– gah!" Jaune said as he was about to move over to the firearms sections when he accidently bumped into someone coming around the corner.

"Gah! / Owie!" both said as they fell to the ground. "Oh man that hurt," Jaune said as he held his head until he realised that he just bumped into someone. "Oh man! I am so sorry! I didn't mean to- Ruby?"

"Jaune?" Indeed it was young Ruby Rose, the youngest leader of beacon Academy. "Jaune! How are you!" she said with a happy glee as she hugged the boy, causing Pyrrha to flinch slightly at this as Ren and Nora shared a glance with each other.

Ruby then noticed the others as she separated from the boy, "Pyrrha! Ren! Nora! What are you guys doing here?" she asked as she and Jaune stood back up.

"We're here to help Jaune buy a secondary weapon, something like a firearm in case he gets separated from us and he has to keep enemies at bay," Pyrrha said as Ruby's eyes suddenly sparkled.

"YOU'RE GETTING A NEW WEAPON! WHY DIDN'T YOU COME TO ME!?" She said as small sparkles seemed to float around the girl.

"Well, I figured that you would be too busy with your team and I...I didn't want to intrude," He knew that the real reason he was avoiding Ruby's team was because he was trying to give Weiss some space. This, however, did not go unnoticed by the others as all four of them shared a concerned look before Jaune smiled and turned to the small rosette.

"So anyway, we were just about to see what kind of weapons they had. Maybe see if they have something for me?" he said as Ruby nodded.

"How about I help? I mean, not to brag or anything, but I am somewhat of a 'Weapons Expert' if I do say so myself?" she said as she patted Crescent Rose on her waist.

Jaune shrugged his shoulders as he nodded, "Are sure? We're not holding you up or anything are we?" he asked as she shook her head.

"Nah, Yang went off to check out some motorbike store across town and Blake said that her favourite book was being published today...thou I still think its filth," she said as Jaune hesitated to ask.

"And Weiss?" he asked as Ruby shrugged her shoulder.

"She said she had to go order some more dust from her company after... I kind of~...sneezed on it again?" she said with a small meek voice as she placed her two index fingers. Jaune only chuckled at this as he patted her on the head; reminding him of the times he often did this to his younger sister back home.

"Man you are really living up to your crater face title, huh?" he said as she instantly blushed.

"S-Shut up Vomit boy! I didn't mean to do it again! She just leaves the stuff all over the place! How am I not suppose to sneeze on them!" she said as she started waving her arms around.

"Sorry, sorry, and I would be more than happy to have you help," he said as she smiled brightly.

"Good, now then, let's see what they have for..." she paused as she looked at him, "Someone of your skill," she said as he pouted.

"Ouch...that hurts Ruby..."

"Hehehe~ Sorry..." she then hummed to herself as she looked over the weapons and her eyes shined for a second. "How about this?" she asked as she handed him the weapon.

The weapon was a handgun similar to that of an M1911 service pistol issued by the Vale government, with a blade running along the under barrel of the weapon. The handle had small gaps that suggested the gun could change, which was proven when Jaune flicked a small switch on the side and the gun turned into a dagger.

"Whoa..." Jaune said as he held the dagger in his hand and flipped it around, he then transformed it back as he fed a magazine into the clip and fired off a couple of shots into the training dummy as he nodded.

"This is perfect, Thanks, Ruby," Jaune said as the girl smiled at him. "Though truthfully I thought you were going to give some kind of crazy gun/scythe super weapon?" he said as pictured himself struggling to hold some crazy superweapon.

"Well, I figured that you would need something simple to start off with and a handgun is a good weapon for first-timers. Plus the dagger mode would be right up your alley in case of an emergency. Besides, you know I have an appreciation for the classics?" she said as Jaune smiled at the memory.

"Thanks, Ruby," he said as and the others walked over and inspected the weapon.

"This should do just fine for you Jaune," Pyrrha said as she flipped the gun to its dagger form and spun it expertly in her hands. "This will make a fine weapon for you," she said as she handed the gun back to him.

"While we're here, didn't you want to get some new armour?" Ren said as Jaune nodded.

"Yeah, I think its about time I get something with a bit more protection," Jaune said as he fiddled with the breastplate on his chest. "But I'm not sure about any of the armours they have?" he said as he looked over the armours.

"You know Jaune, we could see if they do custom jobs. Store's like this are always willing to do requests if you have the lien for it," Pyrrha said as he nodded.

"Yeah, that does sound like a good idea," they then walked over to the counter as they rung the bell. "Excuse me sir?" he called out as an elderly looking man came out from behind the registers.

"Yes? How can I help you?" he asked as Jaune tapped his armour.

"Can you make a set of armour better than this?" he asked as the man eyed the armour and tapped it with his knuckle.

"I don't know... this looks like some good armour, unfortunately, I'm not sure I can make anything as good as this," he said as Jaune sighed. "But..." he perked at this, "I do know someone who could, mostly works in the old district of the city but does a good craft." He said as the man then wrote down an address on a piece of paper.

"Go to this address and I reckon you can get what you need," he said as Jaune nodded, paid for the pistol and left with his friends.

"Well, I guess we should go check out this place, huh?" Jaune said as he looked at the address.

However, Ren shook his head as he pointed back to the school, "Unfortunately Nora and I have to head back to the academy. Nora and I have to rewrite our half of the assignment due in Professor Peach's after Nora accidently spilt my coffee over it," he said as said girl only whistled nonchalantly.

"We'll see you guys back at the dorm room," he said as Jaune nodded and bid farewell to his friends.

"Well I guess that leaves us?" he said as the other two nodded. "Well, let's get moving then," he said as they went to the old district.

Meanwhile, the clerk watched until the three were out of earshot as he picked up his phone and dialled a series of numbers. "Hey, it's me. I gave them the address like you asked. They should be headed there right now," he said as a man on the other end smiled at this.

"Perfect,"

* * *

Old District

* * *

The Old district of Vale was a section of the city that had not changed since the years of the Great War, said to be the founding sections when the Kingdom of Vale still had a king. In this section of the city, the buildings were more old fashion with much wider spaces, compared to the more cramped sections of the kingdom.

The three eventually found their destination as it led them to a rather old looking building, with the layout of the building being mostly exposed brick with a furnace chimney poking out of the roof.

"You sure this is the place?" Jaune asked as he looked at the slightly worn out building.

"It has to be? This is where the address led us," Pyrrha said as she too found the directions to be odd.

"It might be better on the inside?" Ruby said with a small amount of doubt as they walked into the building, a small chime sounded as they entered the store.

Surprisingly it was, as the interior of the building was actually clean, well organised and had a clear display of all the armours and weapons that the owner had ever forged. But the question was this...

Where was the owner?

"Um, hello? Is anyone there?" Ruby called out before she jumped slightly at the sound of items crashing in the backroom.

"Son of a-! Who put that there!?" a few more sounds of crashing could be heard before a girl came tumbling out of the backroom.

She lay on the floor in front of them for a good two minutes before she looked up at the three startled faces.

The girl was roughly in her late thirties to early forties and had dark grey coloured hair with small streaks of silver in the mix and deep grey eyes. She was dressed in dark blue overalls with a red t-shirt cut off at the stomach and brown leather boots.

"Yes, how can I help you?" she asked as they just stared at her. "Hello?" she said again as they shook off their shock.

"Um, are you alright?" Jaune asked as the woman nodded and slowly stood back up.

"Yeah I am fine, I was just doing some inventory when I heard the doorbell ring, gave me quite the scare when I fell off the top shelf!" she said with a laugh as the three just stared her.

" _Is she related to Nora?"_ they thought as they noticed how similar she was to the orange Valkyrie.

"SO~ anyway, my name is Sylvia Ironheart and welcome to my store, what can I do you for?" she asked as Jaune shook his head and then pointed at his chest plate.

"The guy at the weapons store told us that you could make armour as good as this?" he asked as she eyed the chest plate.

"Looks pretty old, where did you buy this thing anyway an antic store? No one has used this type of armour since the Great War," Sylvia said as Jaune shrugged his shoulders.

"So, do you think you can make it?" he asked as the woman nodded.

"I sure can, do you have any specific request I should make? Do you want a hidden weapon? Do you want it to be heavy or light?" she asked as Jaune thought for a moment and then looked at his friends.

He then looked at his partner as he nodded and turned back to her, "I would like it to be light, but strong, with only one pauldron on my left arm and a hidden blade in the right gauntlet, if that is too much to ask?" he said as the woman nodded.

"Sure thing, that should be ready in about a few hours," she said as Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Really? You can make it that soon?" he said as Sylvia nodded.

"Yeah, my semblance is metal manipulation. It allows me to manipulate any type of metal into any shape I want, without losing any of its properties. Plus I have some components for the wrist blades that a customer never bothered to pick up, so I should have it ready by in about three hours..." she stopped as she noticed the sword on his waist.

"Hey, can I see that for a minute?" she asked as Jaune looked confused as he removed Crocea from his waist and handed to the girl.

She then whistled as she inspected the sheath/shield and again as she drew out the blade. "This is fine looking blade you got here, I'd say its roughly eighty years old given the number of nicks in the blade," she said as she ran a finger over the blade, surprised to see a small cut in her glove.

"And still sharp too...where did get something like this?" she asked as Jaune looked at the sword.

"It's a family heirloom. My Great grandfather apparently wielded in the Great War and hasn't been used since" he said as the girl looked at the blade.

"You know...I could give this old girl a nice sharpening, fix up the hilt and improve the shield if you want, it won't cost much?"

"Really? Are you sure?" he asked as the girl nodded.

"Yes I am sure, besides...it would be an honour," She said the last part as a whisper as Jaune looked confused.

"Now, feel free to wait here while I can get started right away," she said as she picked up the sword and went into the back room.

"Well, I guess were waiting here for the next three hours?" Jaune said as Pyrrha had to shake her head.

"Unfortunately I need to head to the CCT tower, I need to call my mother and see how she is doing; otherwise she'll start worrying about me. I'll be back as soon as I can, ok?" she said as Jaune nodded

"No problem, good luck," he said before she smiled walked out of the store.

This then left the two leaders, as they stood alone in the store. "So~, I guess you got somewhere to be?" he asked as she shook her head.

"Nope, I've got the whole day to myself and I've got nothing better to do, besides, I really want to see how she'll improve your weapons?" she said as Jaune nodded and then sat down on one of the couches.

A few hours passed as Jaune and Ruby sat in complete silence as the sound of hammer against metal could be heard in the back room. Jaune started to play with the hem of his shirt, while Ruby sat twiddling her thumbs and tapping her foot on the floor.

She then looked at Jaune as she thought of something, "Hey Jaune?" she asked as the boy turned to her

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"Did something happen between you and Weiss?"

Silence drifted between them as the two just stared at each other. Ruby waiting for a response, while he could only look back in stunned silence.

"N-no w-why do you ask?" he asked with slight worry in his voice as Ruby leant forward in her seat.

"Well, it's just that for the past month you've been, I don't know, keeping your distance from her. Whenever we're in the same class you sit far away from her. When we're walking the same hall you turn and go a different direction, and at the cafeteria, you hardly talk to her and barely make eye contact with her..." she looked to him as a sad look was evident on her face.

"What's going on between you two? What happened?" Jaune sighed as he looked away from Ruby as he stared out of the store's front window.

"...Ruby...there is nothing to worry about ok? Weiss and I...it's complicated and I can't go into much detail. But I assure you it's nothing to worry about. Let's just say I decided to give her some space, after realising that I've been a bit too 'pushy' with my date offers," he said as Ruby stared at him.

"But Jaune-"

"Ruby it's fine, don't worry about it, things will work out between me and Weiss eventually. I'm sorry if I've been a bit distant with you guys, but I promise it won't let interfere with our friendship and I would really appreciate it if you didn't bring it up with her. Please?" he asked as she stared at him again before sighing.

"Ok, but you will tell me the truth eventually, right? You and Weiss are my best friends, even if she doesn't admit it, and I hate the thought of you guys not getting along. So whatever is going on with you guys, I hope it doesn't change us," she said as Jaune smiled softly and nodded.

"I promise..."

The front door then opened as Pyrrha walked into the store, "Hey guys, did I miss anything?" she asked as Jaune stood up and smiled at his partner.

"No, we're still waiting but she should be done soon," he said with a smile as he stood in front of his partner.

Ruby, however, could only look at Jaune's back as she still worried about his strange behaviour and unwillingness to share what happened between him and her partner. But before she could do anything, they turned theirs heads to the back door open as Sylvia walked back to them with the gear in hand.

"Ok, I sharpened the blade, fixed up the hilt and pommel so it should be ready to go the next time you go off to fight Grimm," she said as she handed the boy Crocea, all new and shiny as he held the upgraded blade in his hand.

"Now the armour is a little heavier than what you'd be used to, but it should work out and keep you safer from Grimm and the hidden blade is located in the right gauntlet like you asked for and should deploy if you thrust your arm out like this." She gave a brief demonstration as a six-inch long blade emerged from the top half of the gauntlet.

"Whoa..." the tree of them said as Sylvia smiled at them.

"Plus as a gesture of kindness I've thrown in this holster for that dagger/gun you bought and some new boots, seeing as it's unwise for anyone to fight Grimm in sneakers," she said as Jaune blushed at slightly at this.

"Thank you, this is all...thank you. How much do I owe you?" he asked as he reached into his wallet until she raised her hand.

"Relax, you don't owe me anything," she said as Jaune looked confused.

"What? But this must have cost you a lot of materials to build. I am more than willing to pay for it," once again he was stopped as she shook her head.

"It's all right, I have more than enough materials that I could handle this small task. Plus like I said, the hidden blade equipment was just gathering dust on the shelf. You are doing me a favour by taking it off my hands, besides..." she then smiled as he folded her arms.

"This way I can repay an old friend a favour of mine..." she said, as Jaune was about to ask until she clapped her hands together.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Try it on?" she said as Jaune jumped slightly before looking at the white and gold trimmed armour before him.

The armour was more protective than his old one, as it now covered the entirety of his back and stomach with the metal being white with gold trimming. Next to it was a large pauldron that would cover his left shoulder and gauntlets that stretched from his wrist to his elbow.

He sighed as he took off his chest plate and set it on the counter, "I guess it was time to grow up eventually?" he said, as he was about to pick up the chest plate before he heard chuckling.

He looked up to see Sylvia as she looked as though she was trying to hold in a laugh. "What?" he asked as he then heard snickering coming from behind him as he turned to see Ruby as she was now giggling at him.

"W-What is that!?" she asked as she pointed to his chest. He looked down, as all he could see was his hoodie with the Pumpkin Pete's Mascot.

"What, my hoodie? I've always had this." He said as Ruby suddenly started snorting and laughing.

"It's got a cute little bunny rabbit!" she said as she pointed to the bunny like symbol.

"It's Pumpkin Pete! You know, from the cereal?" he said as Ruby was near hysterical laughter now, while Sylvia behind him was faring no better.

"What did you do?! Send in a box top for a prize?" she said as Jaune nodded.

"Yeah! Like Fifty! Do you know how much cereal I had to eat!" he said as Ruby continues to laugh hysterically, her head stylistically expanding, before she falls onto the floor. "Come on! I really like this hoodie!" he said as Ruby continued to roll around on the ground laughing. "Pyrrha help me out here!" he said as he turned to her.

"Pyrrha?" Only to discovering that Pyrrha was blushing, holding a hand over her mouth as she too was trying to keep in her amusement at the sight of the bunny in his chest, as well as taking in pride that Jaune actually liked her cereal.

"Pyrrha!" he said as she tried to control herself.

"I'm sorry-I'm sorry. But it's just so adorable!" she said as she finally began to laugh and Jaune as he glared at them.

"...You guys are the worst..."

"It's a bunny! Hahahahahahahahaha!" Ruby said as she slammed her fist into the floor.

After finally getting over Jaune's hoodie, for which he still swears he can hear laughter, he put on his new armour, strapped his sword to his waist and checked himself in the mirror. He stopped as he stared at his reflection, unable to take his eyes away from the person who stood before him. Because the person in the mirror looked nothing like the person he used to be.

This person looked different, stronger and held no doubts about what it would take for him to become better. It was what he always wanted to see in himself.

"Got to admit, he cleans up pretty nice. Don't you ladies agree?" Sylvia said as Jaune turned back to the others.

"Yes, he certainly does," Pyrrha said, as she smiled at how confident he held himself.

"You look so cool now Jaune, I still think you should get a cape, though," Ruby said as Jaune shook his head.

"Sorry Ruby, but I think you rock it better than I ever could," he said as the rosette nodded at this.

"Maybe you're right," she said as she puffed her chest up slightly at this while Jaune rolled his eyes and turned back to Sylvia.

"Thank you again, are you sure we can't just pay you for this?" he asked as she shook her head.

"For the last time, you don't have to pay me it's my way of paying back a favour to a friend. (Sigh) Why do you Arc's always have to be so noble about receiving a gift?" she said as Jaune looked at her.

"Wait, how did you know my-" "Anyway! It's time I closed up shop! Off you go! GO save the world and whatnot!" she said as she then ushered the three out of the store and closed the door behind them.

"...But it's three in the afternoon?" Ruby said as the sign switched from open to close.

"She was an interesting woman," Pyrrha said as the others nodded and then walked away.

While they walked away, Sylvia sighed as she sat down on one of the chairs and ran a hand through her hair. "...You can come out now, they're gone" she said as a robed figure emerged from the shadows.

The figure was dressed in all black robes with what appeared to be dark grey metal armour covering his arms, chest and shins with deep white bandages peeking through the exposed sections. His face was shrouded in shadows, as the only section revealed was his mouth.

"Thank you once again, Sylvia, I really appreciate you doing this for me," he said as the woman only rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, but this means we are even now. I can finally stop worrying about paying you back for saving my life ten years ago." She said as the man chuckled at that.

"I suppose so," he said as he looked out the window to the retreating trio.

"You going to go talk to him?" he turned around as Sylvia leant back in her chair. "I mean you come all the way here from Arcadia, didn't you? You must want to speak to him about something," she said as he nodded.

"I do, but I'll wait until he is alone..." he gazed out the window as he stared at Jaune's retreating form. "Because what I am about to give him, will change his life forever."

* * *

One Hour Later

* * *

Jaune patted the pommel of his sword as he took a leisurely stroll through the park. It was getting late when Pyrrha and Ruby had decided to head back. However, Jaune suddenly felt like talking a walk through the park, clear his head and be alone for a little bit.

Pyrrha had offered to stay with him, but he declined and said he just needed to be alone for a bit. Reluctantly, she and Ruby boarded the ship to Beacon while Jaune began to walk through the park. He was the only one there as he walked through the empty park, taking in the sight of the clearing and feeling at ease with his surrounding.

Walking through around the park reminded him of the Rose Garden back in Arcadia, as he had often taken strolls through that park to help clear his head. The reason he was walking alone this time, however, was because he was evaluating his progress over the past month. So far he knew he was getting better, he knew that he was being a better leader for his team.

Yet for some reason, when he saw himself in the mirror today, he felt...strange.

He walked over to the small lake as he stared at his reflection in the water. His new clothes and armour blindingly obvious to him as he moved around and looked at himself. When he saw himself in the new clothes and the new weapons, he barely recognised the person he saw. It didn't feel right to him, like that person wasn't him, that there was no way that person was him right now.

Yet here he stood, different and changed all because he got rejected by one girl. Was that all it took for him to become different? Have a girl he liked rip his heart from his chest and stomp it into the ground? Was that really all it took?

Was he that pathetic?

He sighed as he walked over to the bench and rubbed his hands over his face; "This is so weird..." he looked up as the sun slowly began to set.

"I mean, I'm glad I am getting better, no doubt about that. But why did it have to take Weiss to hurt my feelings to make me improve? Why couldn't have been something noble like stopping a great evil or wanting to be a real huntsmen...why did it take heartbreak to change me?"

"We often don't get a choice in what motivates us to change..." his eyes widened as he stood up and faced the voice, "But it is what we do with it, that makes the difference,"

The man then stepped forth from the shadows as he pulled back his hood and revealed a man with light blond hair and a matching beard, faded blue eyes and small wrinkles over his face. The man then smiled as he stepped towards the boy until he was but three feet from him.

"Hello Jaune, how have you been?" he said with a smile as Jaune only had one thing to say to the man.

"Grandpa?!"

* * *

 **And scene, Well here is the long, long awaited chapter IV for The Ascension of a King. I am really sorry for the wait, to be truthful I was just about to give up on this series until I bought FINAL FANTASY XV and I was inspired to continue the story of Jaune's secret royalty.**

 **Hopefully, the next chapter will come out soon, but with how things are going, I make no promises. Plus it takes a lot of time to write these things, and I like to put my best effort into writing a good chapter for everyone.  
**

 **Also in the next chapter, I want to try and explain why Arcadia still has a King, while the others do not. It's going to take a while, because honestly every time a World of Remnant comes out, my head gets a migraine trying to work it into the plot.  
**

 **Ps in this storyline the Vytal Festival is still two months out, which should give more time for Jaune to improve a bit.**

 **So stay tuned next time for Chapter V: King's Legacy**


	5. Chapter V: King's Legacy

RWBY: The Ascension of a King

After a rather harsh rejection from Weiss Schnee, Jaune realises that he needs to stop chasing her and become stronger. With the help of his team and that of Ruby, Yang and Blake, He will strive to become the hero he dreams to be. All the while hiding a secret that would rock the world of RWBY.

 **So, in this chapter, after watching World of Remnant – The Great War came out, I decided that I should go a bit more into the Kingdom of Arcadia. Seeing as apparently, there was a powerful man eighty years ago called 'The Warrior King of Vale' and I need a good reason as to why Arcadia still has a King title. I will be going back and editing some of the chapters, like changing the Kingdom's history of Atlas to the Kingdom of Mantle, the old Kingdom.**

 **Well, for this one I decided to start off where I left off, with Jaune sitting on a park bench, where his grandfather greets him, who will gift us with a brief history of Arcadia and to give a valid reason as to why Arcadia has a King title and why Jaune received so little a training. And I also decided to draw some inspiration from a game I'm into now that helped me get back into Ascension of a King...**

 **Called Final Fantasy XV! So, I will be drawing inspirations from the game with my own twists and ideas. I would also like to thank Dragoon109, for his/her contribution to the story and helping me sort out plots and hearing my ideas. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter V: King's Legacy

* * *

Before Jaune stood a man shrouded by a black cloak with the hood removed, from a glance he could see that the man was dressed dark grey pants, a black shirt with chainmail and dark red armour over the top. Strapped to his waist was a sword with a dark grey hit in a black sheath. He looked roughly forty years of age but was older than he appeared.

He had long light blond hair tied at the base of his neck with his hair slicked back with one strand going down his forehead. A full trimmed beard covered the lower half of his face with small areas of lighter blond mixed in. He also had a scar on his left eyebrow and his lower right lip. The old man smirked at the stunned look on his grandson's face as Jaune could only stare in shock.

You see the man before him was the Former Twelfth King of Arcadia, Cornelius Arc the Fourth, a man who was once said to be almost as strong as the Legendary Warrior King of Vale years ago.

He was a man who was famous for his battle with the remnants of the former kingdom of Mantle and the role he played in the Great War. He ruled the Kingdom of Arcadia for over thirty years until handing the reigns of the Kingdom to the Thirteenth King, Roland The Second. After which he had gone off adventuring and only made periodical visits to the Kingdom.

Jaune had grown up hearing tales and legends of this one man who could take on an entire battalion and walk away with only a few scratches. To see him standing here before him, he only had one option.

Run!

He turned tail and ran as far away from the man as he possibly could go...

Only to discover that he was just running in the same spot, not even half a foot from where he looked down as he noticed that he was floating in one place, with his grandfather's left hand lazily stretched out with one eyebrow raised to the boy.

"...Jaune, what are you doing?" he asked as Jaune remained floating in the air.

"Um...running? Aren't you here to take me back to Arcadia? And how are you doing that anyway?" he asked as the man shook his head and lowered the boy to the ground.

"First off, no, I am not here to take you back to Arcadia. Second, this is my Semblance, Telekinesis. You have aura now so you should have figured that part out by yourself, though I'll admit it's not as powerful as it used to be. Third, I wanted to come see how my grandson was doing at Beacon. Instead, after getting an old friend of mine to forge his new weapons and armour, he runs at the first sight of me? I have honestly hurt boy, I truly am," Jaune blinked in surprise at him.

"Old friend, you mean Sylvia? You're the person she owed the favour to?" he said stunned as Cornelius nodded with a huge grin on his face.

"Yep, saved her life about ten years ago. I won't go into the details, but let me tell you, it was one heck of a battle...and one hell of a hangover afterwards," He laughed while Jaune only stared at him.

"But if you aren't here to take me back, why are you here?" he asked as the man hummed to himself and sat down on the bench. He then gestured to sit at the empty seat as Jaune slowly sat down next to his grandfather.

"Well like I said, I wanted to see how my grandson was doing. Seeing if this whole Huntsman life was too much for you...Is it getting too much for you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow as Jaune looked away bashfully.

"Well it was at first, but I am getting better. My team has really helped me improve a lot and I've learned so much since I got here, it's really amazing" he said as the old man chuckled.

"Good to know brat, it seems coming to Beacon was the right choice for you. Just a shame your parents couldn't see that." He said as Jaune nodded slightly.

"How are they? I'm guessing they were a little bit angry that I left?" the man nodded as ran his hand through his hair.

"A little? Boy, I hadn't seen your mother that angry since your father forgot their wedding anniversary ten years ago, and you remembered what happened back then, right?" he said as Jaune nodded. They had to remodel the entire throne room after that incident and his father never forgot an anniversary since.

"So, I heard from a reliable source that you've become the leader of your very own team, that right?" he said as Jaune nodded while the man laughed heartily. "That's my grandson! A natural born leader!" he said as he wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder.

"So, what are they like? They any good? Any of them cute girls that you fancy?" he asked with a grin as Jaune blushed and removed his arm from his shoulder.

"Ok, first off grandpa they are my friends, and they are really great people, especially my partner, Pyrrha," he said as the man raised an eyebrow.

"Pyrrha? As in that Pyrrha Nikos girl who's on the front of that Cereal Box you sent all those coupons to?" Jaune nodded as the man folded his arms and smirked. "The same girl you said looked cute before you left for Beacon?" Jaune blushed heavily at that comment but nodded.

"I-I don't know what you are talking about, but yeah the same...she's uh...she's been really nice to me since I came to Beacon. She even offered to train me when she found out about my fake-! I mean my lack of skill," Jaune said as he tried to cover up his secret.

"You mean after she learned your transcripts are fake?" he said with a deadpan look while Jaune flinched at that.

"Relax boy, I already knew from my contacts here in Vale and I must say I'm a little disappointed. I know the reason was to hide your identity and to get as far away from your parents as possible, but that was a seriously stupid move. I mean I know I taught how to swing a sword a bit on my visits, but you still have years to learn before you could join an academy, what were you thinking?" he asked as Jaune nodded.

"Tell me about it?" he said and then shook his head.

"Anyway, Pyrrha is nice and strong, I mean ridiculously strong. If it wasn't for her I would have never survived initiation. Plus, she's the first person that was willing to help me since I got here until Ren and Nora started helping me too. But I kind of feel guilty that she's spending all her time helping me catch up, but she says it doesn't matter to her and that she's happy to help me, I don't know why?" he said

Cornelius chuckled at this as he could already guess why. Ah, to be young and in love.

"The others on my team are great too, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Ren is a nice guy, he's quiet and doesn't talk much, but if there is one person I could count on other than Pyrrha, it would be him. He's like the brother I never had. Nora on the hand is...odd...but she's a good friend. She's been helping me build my strength and control my aura. Though her methods can be rather...extreme..." Jaune had small flashbacks of flying wrenches that caused him to shiver, while Cornelius could only raise an eyebrow.

"I get the feeling I don't want to know, right?" he said as Jaune nodded.

"Figures, sounds like you got yourself quite the team then, huh?" he said as Jaune smiled and nodded. "Good, a King is nothing if he doesn't have those he can trust to stand by his side." He pulled out a metal flask as he drank and then screwed the lid back on. "So, you found any 'special girl' that you like? Someone that you fancy?" he said while wiggling his eyebrows as Jaune blushed for a moment then shook his head.

"No, yes...well...it's complicated...I used to like her, but not anymore," he said as the old man only nodded.

"Ah, she rejected you, didn't she?" Jaune spun his head at this as the old man smirked.

"I can tell just by the look on your face, it's the same look I had when I was your age. Now granted this was before I met your grandmother and I was still only a young troublemaker in my youth...oh boy those were the days," he muttered as Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Point is, I know what it's like to have a broken heart. That feeling of never finding anyone to fill that void left inside, thinking that the one that's meant to fill it no longer can. But you've just got to realise that there are other fish in the sea my boy, you just need to be willing enough to look for them," he said as Jaune looked at him and looked at his hands.

"...But, what if she said something harsh, but at the same time true? Something that makes you just stop and think about your life and the choices you've made, and realise how bad you messed up. How can you just get over something like that?" he asked as the man placed a hand on his chin.

"Hmm, that is a tough one... Honestly, I don't think it's something I can just answer with just a short amount of words," he said as Jaune lowered his head. "But," he said as Jaune looked back up.

"If I were to make a wild stab at it. I would say that you don't get over it, but rather embrace it." His answer caused more confusion as Cornelius leant back on the bench.

"Whatever this girl told you if it really made you stop and think about your life that you're willing to change it, then don't try to get over it. Instead, use it as a motivation, let it be the foundation on which the new you can stand upon strongly, but never forget what it was that caused her to say those words. Otherwise, you'll just repeat the same mistake and end up back where you started." He said as looked at his grandson.

"Trust me, there are a lot of things I've done that I regret. But instead of wallowing in them, I use them every day to make me stronger, so that I never make the same mistake again, understand?" he asked Jaune looked conflicted but nodded.

"I guess, thanks, Grandpa," he said as the man nodded.

"Anytime Jaune, anytime." He said as they just sat on the bench and watched the fireflies and the crickets singing in the light of the shattered moon. "By the way, I have another reason for seeing you, a small gift for your new role as Leader. But before I do, I want to test your knowledge on our own...personal history," he said as Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"What do you know, of the Spectrum Goddess?" he asked as Jaune looked somewhat confused before he nodded.

"Well It's just a legend, a tale passed down our family for generations that supposedly ties into the birth of Arcadia..." Jaune said as the light of the lamppost began to flicker and the shadows on the floor began to move.

* * *

"Long before the rise of Arcadia, before the four kingdoms, there was once a clan of ancient warriors called the Arcadians. Our Ancestors. The Arcadians were a clan of warriors that fought and struggled to build a home in the world of Remnant. Back when clans often fought against other clans for territory, resources or just the chance to survive another day against the Grimm," men and woman armed to the teeth stood before the dark hoard of Grimm and clansmen as a courage's battle waged in the shadows.

"But roughly two hundred years ago amongst this clan was a man named Julius Arcadian, who was the son of the clan leader and next in line as chief to lead."

An image of a man dressed in rugged armour and a white cape stood before the men and woman. "But while Julius was a strong warrior, he had often questioned whether he had what it took to lead his people as chief." The young man was seen sitting near a waterfall, a look of contemplation on his face as he looked at the sword in his hand and the symbol on his gauntlet.

"His people had been fighting the Grimm for hundreds of years, and just as long against the other clans. He wondered whether he had the strength to protect his people and if he didn't, what would become of his people?" the man looked back as he hung his head.

"One day while hunting for food, he came across a small white lion cub that was surrounded by the creatures of Grimm. They had cornered and injured the animal and were preparing to devour the small cub. In any other circumstance, a hunter would have just left the animal to its fate. But Julius was as kind as he was strong and he leapt into battle against the beasts." Julius stood before the Grimm, protecting a small lion cub as the animal was whimpering and bleeding from its leg as the Grimm snarled and howled in hunger.

"After he had killed the Grimm, he took the small animal back home and nursed it back to health. For many days and many nights, he did everything in his power to save the young cubs life, even to the ire of his father who berated him for spending his time saving a dying animal." Julius was nursing the small creature as a tall man stood behind him.

"Yet every time he would respond the same. **'If the strong will not help the weak, who will?'** and then he would continue to heal the injured animal. Until upon the seventh day, the animal was fully healed and released back into the wild. At first, it seemed that Julius would never meet the small club again." Julius released the animal into the wild as the small cub looked back and then dashed into the woods.

"Until one day while he was patrolling the forest, the small lion cub reappeared before him and gesture him to follow it deeper into the forest. The small animal led him to a crystal and gestured for him to touch the giant crystal that resonated with seven lights. And when he did, he claimed that a woman appeared before him, who's very being he could barely describe," Jaune spoke as an image of a divine begin stood before Julius.

"The woman claimed to be the Spectrum Goddess, the youngest sister to the gods of Light and Darkness who was charged with keeping the balance between the dark and light and claims to have helped them create mankind by giving them the power of aura. She had often watched the world from beyond through the eyes of her observers after she stayed behind, but never interfered like her brothers. But because Julius had saved one of her observers, she was grateful to him and in gratitude for his kindness, asked what his reward should be?" The spirit made a kind gesture as Julius seemed to ponder.

"In response, he asked the Goddess to give him the power to forge a place where his clan and those who seek peace would be safe. It was said that the Goddess gifted him with seven powerful guardian spirits, each one a powerful representation of the seven elements that bind this world." Jaune said as the woman enveloped him in a powerful light and seven creatures stood around him.

"Thor - The Yellow Giant of Thunder," a large being wielding a massive hammer summoned a storm of thunder and lightning with a strike on his anvil, as he stood upon the clouds. Large bolts of lightning surged then flew towards an army of Grimm into dust.

"Amaterasu - The Red Fire Dragon of the Sun," a massive serpent-like dragon with huge scarlet wings surged through the clouds, before erupting and circled around the sun as it released a massive roar, a large stream of fire escaping from its jaws as Grimm roared in pain.

"Nehalennia - The Blue Serpent of the Oceans," a massive serpent swam through the ocean as it erupted from the ocean and hissed at those who stood before its might. A large tsunami crashing into the lands and drowning the Grimm that had dared to enter its waters.

"Fei Lan - The Green Falcon of Air," a massive falcon soared through the air as massive hurricanes and cyclones erupted from every beat of its wings. The cyclone is so strong that any Grimm that was on land was blown into the air and thrashed against the winds.

"Oxylus - The Orange Titan of Earth and Mountains," a massive giant with pieces of earth and stone growing from its back lumbered between the mountains as the very earth shook with its footsteps. Large Grimm lumbered towards the Giant, only for the Giant to swat them away with a swing of its arm.

"Izanami - The Indigo Hellcat of the Underworld," a massive cat sat before a large skeletal gate as its flaming purple mane flowed in the wind. The crying souls of those who have committed crimes against the innocent screaming as they were dragged into the gates.

"And Flora - The Rose Fairy of Nature and Life," a fairy-like creature sat in the middle of the forest as animals and trees surrounded her as she lovingly cared for each of them. Grimm suddenly surrounded the Fairy as the forest suddenly came to life and strangled the Grimm.

* * *

"With these powerful spirits by his side, Julius pushed back the Grimm and forged himself the largest settlement in Remnant History, now known as the Kingdom of Acadia. A place that would stand against the darkness that bombarded mankind. And it was said that upon his death he realised the spirits from their bond with him and returned them to the goddess from which they were born," Jaune finished as he chuckled a little.

"But there's no way any of that happened thousands of years ago. It's just a story, there's no such thing as Guardian spirits, right?" He said as Cornelius merely stared and then chuckled as well.

"You're right, it is just a story. But anyway, the reason I asked you if you knew is that I wanted to give you something," He said as he reached into his cloak and held out his hand. "Here..." he said as he opened his hand.

In his palm was a small black ornate ring, with a flat surface and the Arc crest branded on its surface. Under the Arc's was an and image of a seven-point crystal pointing up to the crescents like a diamond sprouting from the earth. Jaune didn't know why, but somehow this ring seemed to be resonating with power, almost as if it's very presence was not of this earth. And that it was calling to him?

"W-what is that?" Jaune asked as Cornelius smirked.

"This Jaune is the ring that summoned the Guardian Spirits, the only physical connection to the King who founded Arcadia who began the lineage of our bloodline and the Spirits that protected him. This...is the Ring of Kings," he said as Jaune looked in awe at the small ring in his hands.

The man chuckled as he rotated the ring with his fingers. "But, like you said, it's just a story. This is no more than just a trinket from a very wise King passed down in our family for the past fourteen generations." He then held it out as he smiled.

"So, I want you to take it," he said as Jaune stared.

"What?"

"Take it, I figured you could use a little confidence boost," he said as Jaune continued to stare at the ring. "What's the matter?" he asked as Jaune shook his head.

"Nothing, I'm fine, it's just why are you giving me this? Something like this...I don't think I'm-OW!" he said before he felt a chop to the top of his head and the unamused look on his grandfather's face as he stared at the boy.

"Jaune, enough of this whole 'doubting yourself crap, you are a strong kid. You have talent, strength, skill and determination to be the very best huntsman and King this world will ever see." He looked into the boy's eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I've watched you grow up trying to do the best you can, I watched your test on the footage your parents showed me. You lead four strangers in the middle of a life or death test, analysed your opponent and used the resources you had on hand to achieve victory and earned your place as leader. While others fought for the survival of themselves, you fought for the survival of others, that makes you worthier of this ring than anyone in our family's history," he said with a stern but caring voice.

"Now, do yourself a favour and stop doubting your abilities. You're strong, act like it." He said as held out the ring and stared at the boy, almost as if commanding him to take the ring. Jaune looked hesitant before picked up the ring from his hand and held it between his fingers.

The Ring shimmered for a moment before he took a quick breath and slipped the ring on his left hand on his middle finger.

The moment Jaune placed the ring on his finger, he felt a sudden burst of energy rush through his body. It was like he had been plunged into an ocean of cool water, easing and relaxing every muscle in his body. The air seemed to feel fresher and cooler on his skin and the light from every lamp had a gentler warmth than before.

It was like his entire sense just got kicked into overdrive and then suddenly returned to normal.

"Jaune? You ok there?" his grandfather asked as Jaune blinked back into reality, looking over to his grandfather and then ring that now rested on his left middle finger.

"Uh, yes, I am fine. Just uh...just felt a little rush, that's all,"

He looked back to his grandfather, never noticing the small shimmer of light from the ring as the crystal shimmered with all seven colours before returning to its natural white.

Cornelius had noticed, however, and felt his heart sink at the sight.

For it would mean those terrible things were about to happen. Jaune, however, didn't notice as he placed the glove back on his hand, strangely thought he noticed that a section of the glove was altered to allow a ring to slip through. Why did Sylvia design it that way? Did she know about the ring? Or was it-

"Now," Cornelius said as he broke Jaune's train of thought. "I think it's best you be off now. It is getting late and you wouldn't want your pretty partner worrying about you now, would you?" he said as Jaune felt a sudden volt shock through his system.

"Oh, shoot! Yeah, of course! Thanks, Grandpa!" he called out as he bolted from the park, hoping he would make it back to the Airbuses in time.

"Oh, and Jaune!" he called out as he turned back to the man. "Do me a favour and keep an eye on your headmaster," he asked as Jaune raised an eyebrow. "It's nothing personal, but I get the feeling that man has more secrets than most Kingdoms put together. Even from his own people...so let's not mention the gift I gave you, okay?" he asked as Jaune looked confused before nodding and leaving the park

However, while Cornelius was watching him leave, a sad look frowned upon his face as he slowly turned his head up to the sky. "It had to be him, didn't it?" he asked as he rubbed a hand over his face.

"Damn it..." he looked up into the sky as his mind wandered back two weeks ago when he visited his old Kingdom.

* * *

Two Weeks Earlier – Kingdom of Arcadia

* * *

The Kingdom of Arcadia was a shining example of peace and prosperity within the lands west of Vale and North of Vacuo. Airbuses and military vessels patrolled the sky as the banner of the Arcadian kingdom fluttered in the wind. In the centre of the city was 'The Citadel' a large castle with tall spires of ivory white and crimson banners that stood tall and proud over the city, it was a place of royalty and diplomacy. A true symbol of the hard work of the Arcadian bloodline and its people.

A man wearing a black hood and cloak walked towards the large castle as two guards who wore deep crimson armour and javelins instantly spotted the man and aimed their weapons at him.

"Halt! Identify yourself!" one of the said as the man merely held up his right arm and removed the gauntlet.

Under the Gauntlet was a mark with the Arcadian symbol on it, but this symbol had the small seven-point diamond shard at the bottom, with a lion's head over the top. The Symbol then glowed as the guards gasped. This signified him as part of the royal family and was designed in a way that could not be forged by other hands. Their eyes widened as they instantly bowed to the man.

"Forgive us, your majesty! We had no idea you would be returning so soon!" he said as the man waved his hand and they stood up.

"No need to apologise," he said as he removed his hood to reveal his face as Cornelius, "You were just performing your duties. Feel great honour in that," he said as he moved past them. "Please alert my son of my arrival, I need to speak with him in the throne room." He commanded as the guards nodded and contacted their commander.

Cornelius soon entered a large and long hall with high ceilings depicting ancient battles and moments in history. At the end of the hall was a large throne, gold in design and intricate like a tree growing from the earth. Standing before the throne was a tall man with blond hair, a matching beard and piercing blue eyes that commanded attention and authority.

Beside him was clearly a general as he stood wearing a dark blue uniform with multiple stars and stripes pinned to his chest, dark grey hair slicked back with small strands of silver mixed into the mass as it showed he was a man of years and experience. The most obvious however was the fact that he had two grey lion-like ears on the top of his head. Identifying him as a Faunus.

The blond man turned around as stared at the approaching man, "Father? this is unexpected, I didn't know you were coming to visit." He said as the old man chuckled at the man known as Roland.

"Yeah well, I thought I might as well check up on the place, see if you hadn't burnt the Kingdom to the ground," he said with a chuckle as Roland crossed his arms.

"Really? Last I remember mother had told me of how you 'accidentally' set fire to the entire western forest during your reign?" the old man chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

"Ah, that was a long time ago, how was I supposed to know there was a large fire dust deposit there anyway? The Mantle Army was about to bombard us, I had to do something?" he said as the general and Roland rolled their eyes.

"In any case, it's good to see you again, Son. And Damon, how is your granddaughter?" the man asked as the ageing general nodded.

"She is doing well your Highness. She just joined Vigil Academy and she is set on becoming Grand-Sentinel in the Arcadian Army," he said with pride as the man smiled.

"Good to hear my friend, if she is as loyal to Arcadia as you are, then the Kingdom will be in safe hands. Now if you don't mind I need to speak with my son. It is a...private matter after all," he said as the general nodded and bowed to the two Kings. The two men watched the general leave the hall as soon they were the only ones left in the grand throne room.

"What is it you need to talk about, father?" Roland asked as the man continued to look at the door. "You would never ask to talk me alone, not unless it concerned the safety of Arcadia. Why have you returned so soon?" The man sighed as he turned back to his son.

"Roland... it involves your son, and 'it'" he said as Roland stiffened slightly and nodded.

"...I see...We should take this to 'that' place" he said as Cornelius moved around the throne and placed his hand on the symbol of Arcadia located behind the seat.

His hand glowed with his aura before the symbol glowed and then sunk into the wall. The sound of gears shifting and turning echoed in the throne room as a section of the wall slowly moved to reveal a large elevator. Enough for several people or so. The two silently walked into the elevator as it shot straight down, down to the lowest depths of the Kingdom.

When the elevator opened the two men walked into a large cavern with large crystals hanging from the ceiling, that illuminated the cavern in artificial light.

The cavern consisted off a large body of water, with an island in the centre of the cavern and on the island stood what looked like a large crystal tree with seven shard-like 'branches' stretching to the ceiling. At the base of the crystal was a stone casket with a knight's armour laying atop the stone, its armour old and dented with the symbol of two crests branded on a tattered cape that was folded neatly beside it.

The two men walked forward as Roland and Cornelius bowed, "Julius Arcadian, the founder of Arcadia," Cornelius said as he looked at the stone casket. "The man who gave us the lands we rule, and the responsibility that we now bare..." he said as Roland looked at the casket, then at his father.

"Why are we here father?" the older man placed his hand on the crystal as he sighed and turned to his son.

"It's the Ring..." he said as Roland looked down at the ring on his left hand. "I've come to give it to Jaune," his head instantly snapped back to his father as his eyes were wide in shock.

"What!" he yelled as his voice echoed in the cavern. "The Ring! Are you insane! Jaune's not ready for that kind of power!" he said as he marched over to the man. "It's not his time yet, he still has time before he is to be crowned King! Why would you want to give him the Ring of the Kings!?" Cornelius shook his head as he walked away from him.

"I don't," Roland frowned as he looked confused. "It's not my decision, it was the crystals," he said as they both looked at the large tree-like crystal that grew from the earth.

"As you know, this Crystal was the connection point between Julius and the Spectrum Goddess. But it also has a 'special' connection to our blood, one that only we can possess. It was through this that Julius spoke to the Goddess who granted him the Ring and allowed him to summon the Seven Guardians of Arcadia. It's because of him that these lands are protected from Grimm, and why we kept the knowledge secret from the other four..." he looked into the waters of the cavern as he stared at his reflection.

"But on his deathbed, he foretold to his descendants of a great 'cataclysm', one that would shake the very foundations of Remnant to its core. And why a 'True King' must be born, to fight alongside the chosen 'Seven' and bring balance to the world. It is why Arcadia still has a King, rather than submitting to laws of the Warrior King of Vale...even though he knew the reason." He turned back to his son as a grim look was plaster on his face.

"And about a month ago I had a dream from the crystal, or more like a vision, telling me that I have to give Jaune the Ring. I couldn't make it out clearly, but I know that the Crystal was contacting me..." he turned as he looked his son in the eye.

"Just like I know it has been reaching out to you"

Roland said nothing as he turned his head away. "It's been telling you the same thing, hasn't it? To give Jaune the Ring," Roland looked at the ring on his hand as the crystal shard shimmered in the steel.

"He's not ready... the power that Ring grants the user is far beyond anything a normal Huntsman can ever hope to achieve, he can't handle that kind of power, he needs more time."

"Not if you've seen the same vision, and I know you have. He might be the one to summon the Guardians again, he may be the 'True King' Julius foretold!" Roland shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Father, you know as well as I do that the Ring hasn't been able to summon any of the Guardians for the past two hundred years! None of our ancestors has been able to since Julius, they may not even be real at all! They could be just a myth!" Cornelius scowled as he pointed to the Crystal.

"And yet here we are! Standing at the source of the Ring's power! What more proof do you need!? Or are you intending to defy the will of the Goddess!"

"If it keeps him safe! Then yes!"

Suddenly the crystal shimmered with seven colours as the whole caverns seemed to shake, several beings seemed to slither beneath the water's surface before it stopped and the crystal returned to its crystalline white form. Both men stared in awe before Roland hung his head and looked at his hand, the ring staring back at him.

"Roland, son...it's our duty, it's what we were born to do, what all our ancestors were born to do. Prepare the 'True King' who will fight alongside the 'Chosen Eight' to bring balance between the Light and the Darkness...it is our destiny"

Roland said nothing as he gripped his ring finger, holding onto the ring that was wrapped around his finger.

"I... I just want to keep him safe... I don't...I don't want him to be burdened with such a responsibility. I-I don't want him to feel overwhelmed by this 'Destiny' our ancestor foretold...I just want him to have a normal life," an uncomfortable silence lingered between them as Cornelius sighed and nodded his head.

"...I understand your intentions son, I too at one time considered holding back your training, allow you to grow up with a somewhat normal life and be free of the burden that rests upon our family. But the thing I've learned about our family is that nothing will ever be normal. We are Kings and Queens that are charged with protecting Arcadia, the ones who the Goddess herself entrusted with her most powerful creation. And the stress that comes with such a task"

"But now It's time to hand the ring to its rightful wearer, to the one our ancestors foretold. And if he truly is the 'True King' then we must support him and help him on his journey with the 'Seven'..." he held out his hand as Roland looked at his ring.

"Then we must help him, not just for the sake of Arcadia...but for the sake of our world..." Roland stared at the ring as its brilliance shimmered before him. And with a simple pull, the ring was removed and he felt a great peaceful energy stir within him.

He held the ring in his hand as he stared at one last time before handing it to his father. The elder man held the ring between his fingers, the dark grey metal band and the white crystal glimmering with the golden crest brought him memories of his time wearing the ring.

Almost instinctively he felt the urge to place the ring back on his finger, the ring near the tip of his finger before a small shock zapped his finger.

"So, the legends are true? Once passed on, a former king can never wear it again," he said as Roland too stared at the ring. The elder man sighed as he took some string from his pocket and placed the ring around his neck.

"I'll send a message to my contacts in Vale, get them to keep an eye on Jaune. If by chance he decides to upgrade his gear, I will use that to contact him and gift him the ring."

"Will you tell him about the Rings power?" the man shook his head.

"...No, if word got out about how Arcadia has possessed a 'Magical Ring that can double a warrior's power' for the past two hundred years, every Kingdom in Remnant would be after it. For now, I will just let the Ring decide when it will reveal its true power. Like all Kings that came before him, he must figure this out for himself" Roland nodded as they moved towards the elevator.

"And if Jaune is the foretold 'True King'?" he asked as Cornelius sighed.

"...Then may the Gods have mercy on us..."

* * *

The Present – Vale – Beacon Academy

* * *

Jaune walked in silence as he made his way back to his dorm room, the day's events still running through his mind as felt the weight of his new gear and the significance of the story his grandfather made him remember.

The First King of Arcadia, the Guardian Spirits that he commanded and the ring that was gifted to him from a goddess.

It was a lot for him to process. His eyes wandered back to ring that now rested on his finger as the white crystal shimmered in the light. Was it just a story? Or was his grandfather trying to tell him something?

And if so, why give it to him?

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "It's just like my grandpa to leave me a riddle I have to figure out on my own. I am starting to think he likes to just mess with me on purpose?"

An image of his grandfather's smirking face came back as he brushed it aside he finally made it back to the dorm room as grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. The first thing he came across was Nora, as she was bouncing aimlessly on her bed, with her partner and childhood friend sitting on his bed reading another help book.

"Jaune! You're back!" Pyrrha said with a happy voice as she got up from her bed and walked towards him. "What kept you so long?" she asked as Jaune chuckled nervously.

"Sorry I am late, I ran into an old friend in town on my way back."

"Really, who?" she asked as Jaune only shrugged.

"Just an old friend from my hometown, he's only staying for the night, just wanted to catch up a little," he said as Pyrrha nodded, while Nora leant on the edge of her bed.

"How did it go? Pyrrha told us you got new weapons and armour?" Nora asked as she stopped bouncing on the bed to look at him. "Ooo~, nice armour, kind of suits you," she said as she inspected the armour while Jaune blushed slightly at the praise.

"You think? I was just trying out something different?" he said as Ren looked up from his book as he too noted his leaders change of wardrobe.

"It does look more durable than your last one," he then spotted the sword as he pointed at it. "You upgraded your sword as well?" he said as Jaune nodded and drew the sword.

Next time he had the chance, he would properly thank Sylvia for doing an amazing job on the blade.

The new cross guard was more elaborate, with the shield now accented with a golden trim that complemented the white of the metal. And while the sword did feel heavier than before, it was polished and sharpened to a brilliant new shine. It was as if the blade was just reforged from the fires and fresh off the anvil.

It was truly a beautiful blade, one worthy of the next King of Arcadia.

"Whoa, that looks cool, really suits you, oh fearless leader. Thou personally I would have added a grenade launcher," Nora said as Jaune simply stared at his reflection in the blade.

"I think you look amazing Jaune," Pyrrha said as Jaune turned to his partner and nodded.

"Thanks, Pyrrha, that really means a lot," Pyrrha felt a warm happiness at his words. As Jaune sheathed his blade into its sheath he noticed that the weight of the sheath was slightly heavier now and it caused him to think of a new idea for an upgrade, but decided to hold off until later. For now, he was tired, and he just wanted to rest.

"Well, it's late and I think we just go to bed, no telling what will happen tomorrow?" Jaune said as they all agreed and went to sleep.

Changing into their night clothes and resting in their beds. As the lights went out and the four warriors in training went to sleep, none realised what would later unfold as the ring on Jaune's finger softly glowed with a white light, then multiple lights before softly fading into the darkness of the dorm room.

Deep with Jaune's being, within the subconscious portions of his soul, the armoured knight slowly looked up at the tree behind him suddenly began to harden and morph until it was a large crystalline tree, like the one hidden beneath Arcadia. Several loud roars and voices echoing amongst the endless watery plain as seven lights softly illuminated upon the branches of the tree.

The Knight nodded as it remained put in his place. The sword in its hands shifting and changing into the updated Crocea Mors with the ring now resting firmly on his armoured left finger as the knight seemed to smile in approval.

 **"The key has been passed, and the locks are shifting...soon my King, the time of your Ascension will come..."**

* * *

 **And Scene, well here is Chapter V of Ascension of a King. I will not lie, I had a hard time trying to continue this story. But thanks to FFXV I got some new inspiration and am ready to continue this story, in the name of FANDOM! ...sorry, needed to get that out.**

 **Anyway, thanks for waiting for me and hope you all enjoyed this chapter, just finished University, like forever, and now have more free time to work on my other stories. Unless I get calls from work, fanfiction can't bring home the bacon. Ps, the story is still set before Season 2 so RWBY and the others have not headed to Mount Glenn yet, I plan on sending JNPR with them as back, with some plans for the Ring.**

 **So, now that Jaune has the Ring of Kings what will this mean for out hidden prince? Will Jaune be able to defeat Cardin in his next match? And will his family be making any more surprise visits to Vale? And will it unleash unknown chaos on his 'normal life'? The answer to all these questions will be revealed...right now.**

 **Yep, most defiantly and Oh my yes...**

 **Stay tuned for Chapter VI: Cardin's Defeat and befriending a Cat.**


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